Bliss
by Cranberriez
Summary: A rather unusual Muse story about a spaceship named Bliss and a Captain named Matthew Bellamy ;D
1. Bliss: 1

"Listen to me, Bellamy. I know what I'm doing, and that's the end of it. You can trust me." I wiped a hand across my sweaty forehead and dived in again with the spanner.

"That's Captain Bellamy to you." He paused, waiting for me to answer. I didn't. "You sure you're not getting tired?"

_Why do you care?_

"I'm sure. I can do this; I just need to be left in peace. _Sir_." I didn't turn around as I spoke. I'd hated 'Captain' Paul Bellamy when he was alive, and I wasn't about to become chummy with his younger brother, regardless of status.

"Ok, fine. But remember, the whole crew's depending on you here. Call m- one of the crew if you need anything." He swiftly corrected himself but I knew what he would've said.

_Why so friendly, Bellamy?_

"Ok, thanks Captain." I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I heard him walk away.

This was my third week under the command of Captain Matthew Bellamy, aboard the spaceship _Bliss_. The third week.

And we were crashing.

O_o

"I still don't believe you saved the whole ship, Jess. And the whole crew. We were like, a centimetre away from crashing and you switched two wires over and we flew off again. Fucking amazing."

"Kirk! Language!" Captain Bellamy called as he passed the cabin door.

I only just stopped myself from laughing at Tom's new expression.

"Who the fuck does he think he is, strutting around the place, telling us to _mind our language?_" Tom Kirk spluttered, albeit quietly, once the Captain was out of earshot.

"Um… he's the captain, Tom. But I agree, what's the point in not swearing? We're all adults here…" I said.

"Yeah!" Tom said, warming to his theme. "And we've all been here longer than _him_ anyway. One of _us_ should've been the new captain, the Bellamys are just turning this ship into a pile of-"

"Did you want to place a complaint, Kirk?" Captain Bellamy said smoothly, leaning against the doorframe. Tom's head whipped round in shock and I tried not to laugh.

"Um… no sir."

"Good. If you don't approve of my family's methods, Kirk, then why are you still onboard?"

"Money…" Tom muttered, looking down.

"Pardon?"

"Because I want to be here." Tom said a little louder, stealing a glance at the figure of authority.

"Also, I have only been in command for three weeks. How do you know that my techniques will be anything like my brother's?"

"I… dunno, Cap'n."

"I suggest you keep things like that in mind when you wish to insult me and my methods, Thomas."

"Yessir."

"Thank you. Two hours in the CAM room might do you good."

"What?"

"You heard, Kirk. And that's an order." Strangely, the Captain looked at me when he said that.

"Fine the- I mean, yes sir." Tom was seething, once again looking at the floor.

"Good man. See you later. And you, Wolstenhome." He smiled at me.

"Wha-" My brother poked his head out from under the duvet of the bed behind me.

"Not you, Chris!" I hissed, at the same time as the Captain said "Your sister, Christopher." We caught each other's eyes at the mistake, and, smiling slightly, the Captain walked away. My face was bright red.

Before I report the snide, teasing comments I then received from Chris and Tom about me and the Captain 'getting it on' in the future, I'll take this time to explain what the CAM room is, and why Tom reacted in such a way when condemned to three days there.

The CAM room basically means the Crap And Mess room. I was surprised the Captain had referred to it in such a way, especially after his comment on Tom's 'language' earlier. Paul Bellamy always used to refer to it as the 'lower decks'. Strange that his brother should use the same abbreviation as the crew… anyway, I digress.

The Crap And Mess room was exactly that- a room full of crap and mess. I'd been sent down there several times when Paul Bellamy was the Captain- ok, more than several- and I'd learnt to stay away from the left-hand side of the deck- because that was effectively the ship's sewer. And it _stank_. Filled with all sorts of unmentionables that get sent down the ship's toilets, it is basically a massive tank where all the stuff sits until it solidifies. Its then ground up into dust by these metal grater-things at the bottom, and chucked out into space. But it's never empty. And with a crew of 400, it never will be. To be honest, I don't really want to talk about it because it's making me feel sick and I don't want to add my vomit to the pile of mess down there, seeing as Tom'll have to go down soon.

So, that's the Crap bit. The Mess bit fills the rest of the room- and several more rooms besides. A long chain of them, all connected to one another, running along the belly of the ship. I once asked the previous Captain Bellamy why they didn't put the 'crap pot' in a separate room so we didn't have to endure the smell, but he slapped the back of my head and told me that was the whole point. And I got three hours down there for 'stupid questions', as well.

The rooms of mess are filled with bits of space junk that we find and pick up on our travels around the universe. That might seem like an exciting prospect, especially if you can get to a room over the other side from the crap pot, but trust me, it isn't. You're very likely to cut yourself while you're down there, cos of all the sharp bits of metal. Or have a sneezing fit, cos of the dust. Or get bruised all over your body if you're down there in a power-cut and you keep walking into things (which has happened to me twice).

What you have to do while you're there is 'look for things which could be of use to the crew or the ship'. That's what the rule says, anyway. Basically it just means you've got to look for edible food (for the crew- there never is any), or spare parts (for the ship- there never are any, cos there aren't any other ships out there like _Bliss_. And I'm not boasting there, I'm complaining.) So, sodding the 'rule', the main objective of being in the CAM room is to avoid the smell and make it as safe and easy to get around in there as possible, for the next poor sod who's sent down.

There. Explanation over. Back to the real world.

"He wants you. You can see it." Tom sneered at me.

"Will you fuck off, for all you know, he might still be stood outside the door!" I half hoped he was, just to see the look on Tom's face.

"'Oh, Captain Bellamy…'" Tom made a sickening face at me, kissing the air and doing God-knows-what with his hands.

"Tom, stop it! I hate him as much as I hated Paul, ok? End of story!" I pushed him, maybe a little too hard, and he fell off of the bunk.

"You bitch! You can't push me off my own bed…" Tom was getting flustered, but I wasn't listening. All of a sudden I felt really weak, like all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry or something. And when Tom came at me for a play fight, I couldn't stand up to it and just flopped down onto the bed.

"Hey, you ok Jess?" Tom abandoned his anger and came to kneel next to my head on the mattress.

"M'fine…" I groaned, shutting my eyes.

"Jess?" Chris was actually getting out of bed without anyone telling him to. He must be worried.

"I'm ok, just feel a bit dizzy, that's all." I tried to sit up, but couldn't.

"Oy Dave, have we gone into warp speed or something?" Chris was talking into the microphone that connected our cabin to the main deck of the ship, in case there was an emergency we needed to know about. Like when we were crashing this morning, the little light started flashing and the speaker started emitting a message telling us to get off our arses and fix the bloody ship, for God's sake. Captain Bellamy wasn't too happy about the wording of the message and Dave got an hour in CAM for it.

"_Nope, normal speed Chris. Why?"_

My brother ignored the question. "Has anything at all different or unusual just happened?"

"_No. Why?"_

Chris cut the connection. "Jessy, what's going on?"

"I don't know, I… coffee…" I must be delirious. All I can think about is coffee.

"Coffee? Jess, listen to me. You don't even like coffee." Tom looked at Chris, worried.

"I feel better now." I sat up, smiling.

"Jess, what the fuck just happened?" Tom said, but I was interrupted before I could answer.

"Thomas, if I catch you swearing again it'll be another hour in CAM." Captain Bellamy was leaning against the doorframe once again. He was holding a mug of coffee.

"Sorry, sir." Tom replied, but he was drowned out by Chris.

"Is that coffee?"

The Captain looked mightily confused. "Yes… I usually have coffee around now. Why?"

"Jess just had a bit of a… turn, and then she started talking about coffee and suddenly she was alright again. And the weird thing is, she doesn't like coffee. S'just a coincidence, that's all. Sir." Chris explained quickly.

To my surprise, the Captain looked extremely worried rather than bursting out laughing or getting even more confused. "Ah… I see. Well…" He seemed to be in deep thought. "Ok then. You just… get on with… things…" He walked off.

"Weird bloke." Tom said, dismissing the occasion entirely.

"I'll have to agree with you there, mate." Chris replied, popping open a can of beer. Yes, you heard me right. We do have beer in space, you know.

"Hmm…" Was all I contributed. I had a weird feeling that the Captain knew what had happened to me, and why. But I let it drop, because I'd soon have to go back on duty and I wasn't looking forward to it, so I had to get into the right mindset beforehand. Saving people's lives is kind of cool, but when you have to use your skills for fixing the men's toilets on decks 3, 4 _and_ 5, it can be a little disheartening.


	2. Bliss: 2

"No! _That_ one!"

"Oh… I swear blue meant fish."

"No, that's green. Blue is what we want here… just press it halfway down… that's it… TOO FAR! Too far. We'll all be covered in baked beans if you're not careful."

Kelly Wolstenholme, my sister-in-law, was trying to teach me how to use the controls in the ship's kitchen.

"Kelly, I can't do this. I'm a mechanic, not a cook." I sat down on the counter, exhausted. And all I'd been doing was pushing a few buttons. Wrongly.

"Don't be pathetic, of course you can. I'm not serving 400 members of crew _and_ giving birth at the same time!" She patted her 8-months-and-2-days-pregnant belly.

"Yeah, but why can't Michael do it? I'm a way better mechanic than he is, _I_ should be wiring up the nursery cabin and _he_ should be doing the food!" I argued. An hour earlier I received the call that I would not, infact, be helping convert a spare cabin into a nursery for my own sister-in-law, Michael had _kindly_ decided to take over the job from me and leave me to the kitchen duty for when Kelly was giving birth and looking after the baby.

"Oh, stop complaining. If you do this, it shows you're… better than Michael, because… he's not as multi-talented as you and… you're more flexible… and you'll have learnt a new skill… and you'll make new friends amongst the crew… and you'll have a better satisfaction rate than he will… and you'll get to spit in his food!"

I really loved Kelly sometimes.

"Ok Kells, point taken. I can deal with the social side of things, and asking what people want, it's just the buttons! I have no idea what any of them are for!" I indicated the 100 or so different coloured buttons spread out in front of me.

"Oh Jess." Kelly slid her hand over her face. "Are you really telling me that after _two hours_ you can't remember what _any_ of this does?"

"Um… That one's the on/off button." I pointed to a massive red button labelled with the words 'On/Off'.

"Excellent work! I think you're ready!"

"Ha ha." I rolled my eyes.

"Really though Jess, I can't ask anyone else to do this now, I'm too close to giving birth and I need someone I can trust. To be honest with you I probably would've swapped you and Michael even if he hadn't done it himself." She ignored my cry of protest. "How's about I draw out a massive diagram for you and you'll just have to follow it _very_ carefully every time someone places an order."

"Sounds like a plan." I smiled.

"It'll take ten times as long…"

"Better that than ten customers complaining every minute cos I've served them sprouts instead of ice-cream."

That made her laugh.

9_6

"Good morning I'm Jess what would you like for breakfast today." I spouted off the same sentence I'd already said 213 times. And don't think I'm sad for counting up the number of customers I'd served, cos I haven't. There was a 'meal counter' sitting happily next to me, proudly stating the number of people who were finished, eating, and still left to serve.

I wanted to smash it into the scrambled eggs.

"You ok, sis?" Chris was my next customer, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I'll survive." I pushed the button for sausages 8 times, followed by the beans button, chips, toast... I know he hadn't ordered yet, but trust me; I know what my brother likes for breakfast. The number of times I'd been forced into 'breakfast in bed duty' as a child… "Well, for the rest of the day, at least." I added as an afterthought.

"You make sure you tell someone if you've had enough. Four months of this is a long time, Jess. Kells is having an omelette, by the way." He grinned, as did I. Kelly _hated_ eggs, but pregnancy does funny things to you, apparently.

"How's she doing?"

"Fine, no signs of any problems with the baby yet, but it's only been three days…"

"Stop worrying, he'll be gorgeous. Here's the sausages…" I passed over the two plates, one with Kelly's breakfast and one with Chris' (which was significantly heavier).

"Oy! Hurry up, I'm getting hungry!" Someone shouted from further down the queue.

"Oops…" Chris grinned at me. "Better be off. Come and visit later, yeah?"

"Absolutely. Seeya!" I smiled quietly to myself as he walked away, a definite spring in his step. He was made to be a Dad.

The queue moved along, and my good mood went with it. "Good morning I'm Jess what would you like for breakfast today." I asked a further 20 times, serving people who didn't even thank me and looked downright disgusted at the lack of Kelly. She always seemed to get on so well with everyone in the crew- it wasn't fair! Why couldn't I do that?

"Good morning I'm J-"

"Morning." I looked up. "Sorry, didn't catch your name there." I looked down.

_Oh. My. God. Since when did a… drop-dead-gorgeous man like him join the crew?_

"Jess."

"Nice to meet you, Jess."

_Blonde, tan, FUCKING HOT AND SEXY AND FIT AND YUMMMMMM…_

"Umm… y-you too."

"I'm Dominic. You can call me Dom if you want." He smiled, and I realised he had perfect teeth as well.

_What are you, you beauty… the ship's residential supermodel?_

He pushed his sunglasses on top of his head and looked at the food display. Then back to me. "Actually, I'm not that hungry. I might pick up something later though, if _you'll_ be here…"

_Did I imagine the stress on the 'you'll'? Does he really want to see me again? Ohmygodohmygodohmygod…_

"Um, well I'm only doing breakfast at the moment, it'll be someone different later…" I'd persuaded Michael to do lunch and he'd got someone else to do dinner, cos he couldn't be arsed.

Well, I say 'persuaded'…

"_You _will_ take on the food duties for the rest of the day, every day, until Kelly is back on duty or I will cut this wire and everything you've done so far in the nursery will be ruined, you'll have wasted equipment and time, and you'll get a bollocking from the Captain. So, what do you say, Michael?"_

Yeah. That wasn't a proud moment.

But anyway. Back to the _gorgeous_ man stood in front of me.

"Shame. Well, I'll see you tomorrow morning then at least, and if you're lucky I might catch you tonight…" He winked at me and walked away. My eyes were glued to his arse.

"Jess, please try and use your common sense. Look at what he's _wearing_! He _has_ to be gay." The next guy in the queue said.

"Oh, fuck off, Tom. Straight until proven gay, that's the rule." I started pushing the buttons for his usual breakfast.

"Oh yeah, how could I forget…" He grinned at me as he waited for his food and together we held hands and skipped off into the world of flashback… (Hear the sarcasm. _Hear it._)

"He's got to be gay." Chris said with absolute conviction.

"No _way_! He's just spent the last 10 minutes flirting with Kelly. Your _girl_friend, Chris!" I slapped my brother on the arm. He didn't flinch, cos he's that hard.

"He's a photographer! That's gay as anything!" Chris said, giving me an 'it's _that_ obvious' look.

"His name's Tom, and if you ask me, that is a stu-raight name." I dragged the word out, making my meaning clear.

We were both stalking this poor guy, him having just joined the crew and been assigned to sleep in my brother's cabin.

"Excuse me, but I couldn't help noticing you two questioning my sexuality. If you'll allow me, I'd like to be known as straight until proven gay, thanks." He turned around, and spouted out this bold statement, which at once had Chris and me in stitches. We'd been friends ever since.

So, I served Tom his breakfast (to which he said "Thanking you kindly madam, and leave that blonde kid alone, he's probably a rapist."), and went back to being deadly bored. The only people I could think of that might prove a little more interesting to serve were Michael and Captain Bellamy, neither of whom I'd seen yet. I craned my neck down the impossibly long queue, and I could see Michael quite close to the serving bar, but the Captain was very close to the back of the queue. I sighed. This would be a long morning.

"Getting bored?" A familiar voice said.

"Michael." I acknowledged him.

"Getting bored?" He repeated himself. Annoying prat.

"No." I wasn't going to show him I was uncomfortable.

"Good, so you can do my lunch-duty as well."

"Would you like extra grease on your chips, Mike, you slimy git?" I said in as pleasant a voice as I could manage. The bloke next in the queue stifled a snigger.

"No chips, thanks, I'm not in the mood." He ignored my insult. "I'll have…" He spotted my diagram of all the buttons that Kelly had painstakingly drawn out for me a couple of weeks ago. "Toast and jam, and a pineapple juice."

I didn't fail to notice that he'd picked two things completely on opposite sides of the panel of buttons. I trudged down to the other end of the kitchen to push the button I hoped would give me pineapple juice, and held a plastic cup underneath the little nozzle. What came out looked nothing like the clear yellow liquid it should have been, and certainly didn't smell like it. But I wasn't about to rectify that in a hurry. This was _Michael's_ order, remember. I'd already done quite a few slices of toast for people that morning, so I knew which button to press as I walked slowly back up to the counter. I handed Michael the cup and plate. He looked in the cup, smelt it, looked at me, scowled, and walked away. I looked at the button diagram and realised I'd just served him 'beetroot juice'.

"Wonder why he didn't complain…" I muttered to myself.

"Funnily enough, he likes beetroot juice." The next crew member answered, and I blushed slightly at being heard.

"Oh. Cool. Um… then why did he look so angry?" I was a bit thrown at talking to a complete stranger. Being a mechanic on the ship doesn't mean socialising much, so there's a lot of the crew members that I don't know.

"Because he's allergic to pineapple juice. He ordered it so he could blame you for serving something he'd have an allergic reaction to. There's a list just there telling you everyone's allergies and what-not, if that helps." The guy pointed to a screen in the wall I certainly hadn't seen before. I was about to ask how the hell he knew, but he was one step ahead of me. "I was doing furniture for Kelly's nursery, and she remembered something she forgot to tell you. I tried to get in early to let you know, but there are some earlier birds that me, it seems!"

_Yeah, 358._

"And that's also how I know about Michael's allergy- he was bragging to everyone who'd listen about how much he hates you and so forth- least I could do was get in the queue next to him and make sure he didn't make this hell for you. I'm Kyle."

Now, I've never been very good at processing a lot of information in one go. So I just stood there for a few seconds, letting all that he said tick slowly through my brain and looking an utter fool.

"Oh, right. Wow. Thanks then… Kyle! Kyle." I said. Names have never been my strong point, even when introduced a couple of seconds ago. I'm that rubbish.

"S'okay." He smiled in a friendly way and ordered his breakfast, giving me a cheery wave as he walked away.

_What a nice man._


	3. Bliss: 3

The 'meal counter' beside me read _'382'_. I sighed. 12 to go.

"Morning, Wolstenholme."

I looked up. "Oh! Morning, Captain."

"My, I'm hungry…" He said, looking over his options. My stomach gave a very loud rumble that I immediately tried to cover up with a cough. Oh come on, we've all done it. "Really hungry…" He muttered to himself, looking at his watch.

"I know what you mean, 10:30 is pretty late for breakfast. I haven't had anything yet, actually! Blimey, I'm really hungry too, I hadn't noticed it until now…" I realised I was rambling, to the Captain no less, and cut myself off.

"You are? What, just all of a sudden?" He asked, looking up from the digital menu.

"Um, well I must've been before, but-"

"You only noticed it now." He finished for me. I must've been bright red by now. "And how did you know the time? There isn't a clock in the kitchen, I've had your sister in law complaining to me about that…" He smiled to himself, as I tried to answer his question.

"I don't know actually. I must've guessed right…" My God, I was digging deeper and deeper into my hypothetical hole.

_He seems to have a knack for making a fool of me, just like his brother. He does seem nicer, though…_

"Sure you didn't sneak a look at my watch a minute ago?" He asked, smiling more.

"Um… no... but actually, that was around the time I said it, wasn't it! I must've read your mind…" I said.

_What the hell am I saying? I must look like a right idiot right now. And in front of the bloody Captain, as well. God, I hate him._

"Yes…" He dismissed my stupid, stupid little attempt at a joke (which by then I had mentally stabbed myself for) and placed his order, which I got without saying a word.

I handed him his plate once the machine had served it and said "Um, there… there you go… sir…"

"Thank you. I hope your hunger subsides soon." He smiled and walked off.

_Why does he have to be so damn nice? It doesn't help!_

Funnily enough, by the time I'd served the last person and collapsed into a heap on the chair behind the counter, my hunger was gone. In fact, I felt positively full. I watched the Captain finish his last mouthful and leave the room, wondering why that was the case when I hadn't actually eaten anything yet. Strange…

(._.)

It was the next morning, and my meal counter read '_400'_. I was just about to gather my stuff and go back to my cabin for a nice nap, when…

"Not closing up shop already, are we?"

I knew that voice.

"Oh… no, um… you can… it's fine… what would you like?" I hurried back to the counter as the blonde beauty stood before me once again.

"Thanks, Jess."

_Oh my God. He remembered my name._

I must've stared at him in awe for a bit because he then added "You… don't mind if I call you Jess?"

"Oh, no, not at all… Domin- Dom." I did that thing where you smile, then realise it's all gone horribly wrong and the smile kind of fades away to a mild expression of horror. Dom just kept on grinning beautifully.

"Well, this morning I think I'll be having toast of some description, with…" I automatically pushed the button for toast as he decided on some kind of spread. A flashing light then suddenly came to my attention.

_Shit shit shit the toast is all gone… what do I say…_

"Erm, I'm really sorry Dom but the toast's gone… I…"

"Oh, don't worry about it, it doesn't matter. I'll be fine without." He said, light as a breeze. He kept on smiling at me, and all I wanted was for him to stay just a bit longer.

"But don't you want something else, I mean there's plenty more sausages and stuff…" Great. I sounded really professional.

"Nah, I'll be alright. Thanks though, Jess. Nice to see you again." He lowered his head a little but kept his eyes on me, and his smile turned into more of a smirk. His gaze was oh-so intense. I actually felt weak at the knees. Literally. They were beginning to shake. I don't think I could stand up for much…

x_x

"_Jess!_ Jess! What the hell happened!"

_I think that's Chris…_

"She must've just fainted from the heat or something…"

_Sounds like Tom…_

"Nonsense, the air conditioning's on- it's cooler in here than in the dining room!"

_Who the fuck is that?_

"What's going on?"

_Ah. The unmistakeable authority of the Captain. Great. Just bloody great._

I tried to sit up, to assure everyone I was fine, so that the Captain would bugger off and get his nose out. I got as far as onto my elbows but then I started to shake violently and collapsed again.

"Someone must've seen what happened. Was she with anyone when she collapsed?" Bellamy barked, ordering everyone about. I wanted him to go away, I wanted my bed and Chris and Kelly and Tom, not _him_.

"I saw… she was with that blonde… the new guy…" A voice shouted up.

"New… I haven't employed anyone new since I've been in command. How long has he been here?" Bellamy sounded worried.

_Ha._

"Since yesterday…"

"His name's Dom…"

"Dom Howard, he told me…"

"Wait." The Captain put a stop to all the volunteers of information and I was glad. I had a headache. "Someone said Howard."

"That was me, Captain. He's sharing my cabin… told me his name was Dominic Howard."

"Ok." The Captain breathed out very slowly through his nose. He seemed to be either very angry or very worried about something.

_Something to do with Dom? That gorgeous blonde? Maybe he's just jealous…_

"Take her to my chamber, I need to ask her about this man."

_Woah, wait a minute. I'm _not_ going up there._

"Sir, wouldn't it be better in her own cabin, then she'll be in familiar surroundings…"

_Good old Chris._

"No Christopher, I need to talk to her about this alone."

_Oh God._

"Well… ok…" Chris seemed to be backing down, and I let out a little whine of protest. He took it the wrong way. "Jessy, it's ok, we're gonna sort you out, yeah? Tell the Captain what happened and stuff, and then I'll be right there, ok?" He said, stroking the hair off my face. My half-opened eyes fluttered closed in resignation. I really was about to go to the Captain's chamber, a place that held many bad memories for me.

"Wolstenholme."

"Yes sir?"

He paused. Whatever he'd got me up here for, it wasn't good.

"…Sir?" I prompted.

Captain Paul Bellamy looked me straight in the eye and said "Your parents are dead. Christopher is severely wounded and is in the ship hospital. I can't leave you both on this planet with no parents, there's a war going on and you'll be killed. You'll both join the crew when you're old enough. For now…" He ran his hand over his face and sighed. "For now, just… behave. Understand?"

No-one who is seven years old should ever have to hear something like that.

I felt myself being lifted off of the ground, but it wasn't Tom cos I could see him and it definitely wasn't Chris or I'd be higher off the ground. I shut my eyes again and decided just to doze away until I was demanded to wake up. I don't know what had happened to me, I felt… weak. All over. Not like the weakness I'd felt in the 'coffee occasion', as Tom liked to call it, that was more of an emotional downer. This was a full-body and emotional weakness rolled into one. I definitely hadn't 'just fainted', Thomas.

"Open." I heard a soft voice and the hiss of a door sliding open. The noise from all the people was suddenly cut off and I was alone with whoever was holding me. I tried to turn my head to look but I simply couldn't- I was looking the wrong way to start with and none of my muscles seemed to be working. I began to panic.

"Shh, calm down…" The soft voice said. I couldn't recognise it. Why had it spoken to me? I hadn't said anything and it was telling me to 'shh'! I fantasized for a second that it was speaking to my mind, telling me not to panic, that it was going to be ok, just calm down now, everything'll be alright…

No. That's ridiculous.

I wondered where the Captain was; I knew his door was voice-recognition controlled and whoever was holding me wouldn't be able to get in without doing an excellent impression of the Captain. At that thought I rolled around a couple of variations on the Captain's voice in my head, just to imagine what an impersonation of him might sound like when performed by Chris, by Tom, by Michael…

The person holding me suddenly chuckled softly, as if someone had told a joke but they were trying not to laugh. I hadn't heard anyone say anything, but I toyed with the idea that the person could read my mind. The impressions I were imagining _were_ quite funny, if I say so myself.

"You know, for someone who's had their life-energy drained, your mind is very active…" The voice murmured. A parade of questions began to march through my head. I saw it: a crowd of people marching down a road, holding placards, each one with a different question on it.

_Life-energy?_

_Drained?_

_How the fuck do you know if my mind's active or not?_

_Who the hell are you anyway?_

_What's going on?_

_What's happened to me?_

_Do _you_ know what's happened to me?_

_Can you make it go away?_

"Yes, I can. Stop thinking so fast, I almost took a wrong turning there." The voice said, accompanied by another soft chuckle. In my mind, each person's placard was now double the size and held two questions. There was so much I wanted to ask, so much I was confused about…

"Just let it all drift away. It's all going to go blank and you'll go to sleep. Just for one minute while I get you upstairs. Let it fade… that's it, good girl." The voice was murmuring. I didn't even realise anything was happening until I noticed all the people were gone from my mind, and there was only blackness, a very soft, warm, inviting looking blackness…

"Sink into it, fade away, shut down…" The voice was still going, lulling me, and sending me slowly into unconsciousness.

I didn't try to fight it.


	4. Bliss: 4

I woke to the smell of chocolate.

I was lying on a brown leather sofa, with my head resting comfortably on one of those floaty-pillow things that actually float a couple of centimetres off of the nearest surface. It was very comfortable.

I could hear something rustling around in the background, but I found I still couldn't move. I realised that all that had happened was that my mind had woken up. That was it. My body was still useless.

"Oh! You're awake!"

The Captain knelt down in front of me. I didn't want him; I wanted the man with the soft voice from before, the one who'd made me feel so comfortable, the one who'd promised to make the weakness go away.

"Right. Let's get you moving again." The Captain said in his annoying, brisk voice.

"Guhway…" I replied. I'd meant to say 'go away', but my pronunciation had slipped with the lack of energy I had.

The Captain smiled. I tried and failed to scowl. He put a hand on the side of my head, between me and the pillow, and lifted me to take the pillow out. "Can't have that interfering…" He muttered as he laid my head back down on the sofa.

Two thoughts rushed through my head: '_Interfering with what?' _and_ 'Get your hands off of me.'_

"I wish you wouldn't hate me so much…" He murmured, shifting in his position on the floor so he could get closer to me. Funny, but when he murmured like that his voice took on an uncanny resemblance to the soft, soothing one that had carried me up here.

He smiled, randomly. "Made the connection yet?" He said. I just stared at him, confused. He sighed. "_I_ carried you up here. Stop thinking of it as the 'soft voice', flattering as that may be. It was me."

I seemed to have enough energy left in me to blush. I shut my eyes, my only means of privacy.

_It was him? What? He doesn't look strong enough to lift me, he's so weedy…_

"Charming." He said, a little of the stern-ness creeping back into his voice.

_Seriously, this is creepy._ It was almost as if he could read my mind. I decided to try something out, like you sometimes see them do in Earth films. I thought: '_Can you read my mind?'_ I know. How cheesy and pathetic is that?

"Yes, I can." He replied, looking me in the eye.

_How…?_

"I'll explain all of that later."

_Why are you still talking out loud?_

"It's not a two-way process. I can read your mind, you fortunately can't read mine."

_Shit_.

He chuckled, and it was the same chuckle from when I was being carried up.

_Wow, this is weird._

"It is quite weird, yes." He didn't seem to be so interested in what I had to say- no, _think_ now. But then I had an idea.

_Tell me what Chris is thinking at the moment._

He looked at me curiously. He opened his mouth as if to say something but paused, planning his words. "I… it's only your mind I can read." He looked away, red creeping into his cheeks.

_What? Out of the entire crew- 400 people- it had to be me? Great._

He gave me a 'look' and I shut my mind up.

_You said you could make this weakness go away. Do it, then._

He sighed. "I have been _trying_ to do so, but you won't shut up enough for it to work!"

_Oh well I'm _sorry_… Why do I need to 'shut up', anyway? Not that I'm actually saying anything…_

"I meant your mind. Shut your mind up. You need to sh- be quiet now because I need to give you this energy back in exactly the same way as you lost it. I'm under the impression that Dominic took it from you by staring, yes?"

_What? Dominic… what?_

"Please, just stop the questions and do what I say if you want this energy back!" He was getting exasperated now. "this is going to be embarrassing enough as it is…" He muttered to himself.

_Why is it going to be embarrassing?_

"What did I just say?"

_Oh yeah. Stop the questions. Got it._

He smiled. "Finally! Now, Dominic took your energy by staring, didn't he?"

_The last thing I remember was him… staring at me, yes._

"Good." He closed his eyes and sighed. "Now, you must pwomise me just to do as I say and not have any kind of outbursts in your mind- that includes outbursts about my speech impediment, thank you very much."

_But it's cute!_

"Erm… ok, well just pwomi-"

_Aww…_

"Oh for goodness' sake! _Give me your word_ that you won't-"

_Yeah, I get it. No 'outbursts'._

"Ok, good. Basically, you also need to be in the same _mindset_ as you were when Dominic took the energy from you. If you can recall how you were feeling when he began to... you know… well, that's what you need to re-create now, but… about me, instead. Understand?" He seemed a bit uncomfortable.

_Yep…_

I cast my mind back, trying to remember what I had been thinking at that very moment.

…_Ah._

"Pwoblem?"

'_P__w__oblem'… Bless him… Oh shit, he can hear me!_

"Please will you just ignore that? Remember what you were feeling about Dominic and direct that at me, and then I can give you the energy back. It's really not that difficult.

_But how're you going to give the energy back? I don't understand…_

"Oh, this is hopeless." He looked like he was about to get up and walk off.

_NO! Wait!_

"No need to shout!" He had his hands over his ears.

_Sorry… I've, erm… got the feeling now…_

"Ah, I see. Well, hold it in your mind, and keep still."

He stared at me. _He's got blue eyes…_ He stared at me with the same intensity that Dominic did, and I tried as best I could to think of him in the same way as I had done about Dominic, holding the words _gorgeous_ and _irresistible_ in my mind. Funnily enough, after a while, it wasn't too hard to think those kind of things about him, and I felt myself kind of melting into him, into those eyes, those blue eyes…

O_O

I woke up. Or it felt like I did.

I could smell chocolate again.

I knew I'd been awake already, so how could I have woken up again?

The chocolate smell was quite relaxing, actually.

I guess it's just because my body was asleep, then it woke up. My mind was awake the whole time.

Chocolate. Too much. Too strong.

"Well I'm sorry, but if you have a pwoblem with chocolate you can leave _right_ now."

I sat up, startled, and looked over the back of the sofa. There lay Captain Matthew Bellamy, sprawled out on his bed, surrounded by empty chocolate wrappers and munching on a Galaxy bar.

'_Galaxy'. And us being on a spaceship, too. How very apt._

"Want some?" He pointed the bar at me, raising his eyebrows. I raised mine back in return. He, at this point in time, looked the most un-captain-ish man I'd ever seen in my life.

"No." I wandered into his bedroom, surprised at the returned use of my legs.

"You feeling shaky or anything?" He asked, sitting up a little.

"No."

"Good." He threw the galaxy on the bed and sighed, looking at it with an expression of pure relaxation on his face.

"I'm sorry, but what the hell is with the chocolate?" I asked, forgetting for a minute that he was the Captain.

He'd seemed to have forgotten as well. "I felt a bit fucked up after giving you all that energy so I decided to pig out. It's the best way to get energy back, fast."

"But I thought you said I'd lost _life_-energy. I seriously doubt that you can get that kind from chocolate." I said the last part like I was speaking to a small child. I sat on the end of his bed, distastefully plucking one of the wrappers out of my way.

"I know."

"Then how are you going to get your life-energy back?"

"The stuff I gave you wasn't _life_-energy. Just normal. I still have all of my life-energy left." He said, nonchalantly.

"What? You mean I can never get my life-energy back?" I was talking about something I had no idea about, but it didn't seem like a good thing. So I shouted, standing up and scattering papers everywhere.

"Hey! I've got to clear that up later, you know!" He stood up too.

"Well it's your fault for eating so bloody much!"

"Excuse me, Wolstenholme, I think you're forgetting who I am and what I've just done for you." He advanced towards me, but I wasn't having it. This was my chance to let out all the anger I'd ever felt for him and his brother Paul, the death of my parents, the war that destroyed my planet, Earth…

"Don't you _'Wolstenholme'_ me! I've just been told that I can never get my life-energy back-"

"I never said that-"

"And you expect me to just stand here and accept that I'm going to have to live off _normal_ energy, energy from _you_ of all people, energy from fucking _chocolate bars!_" I'd completely dismissed the fact now that I had no _clue_ as to what life-energy actually was. But it sounded vital and important, so my argument stayed strong in my head.

"Calm down. You have no reason to be angry with me, _please_ let me explain…" He looked absolutely desperate. Desperate and pathetic.

"You think there's any way I'm going to let _you_ explain this to me? I might as well go and ask _Dominic_, he seems to have some kind of involvement in this, he ought to know…"

"No! No, please, stay away from him, he's a danger to you-"

"He's no more of a danger to me than you are!"

"What utter nonsense." He seemed to be getting angry in response now, and I was glad. I wanted him to fight back. I set my jaw and waited for him to say something else. But he disappointed me- he wasn't angry any more. He just repeated himself. "Wolste- Jessica. Please. Just sit down and listen to me. I can explain all of this, if you'll just listen. Trust me."

_You couldn't have said anything worse._

"Trust you. Like I trusted your brother?" I was seething.

He closed his eyes and sighed, frustrated. "_No_. When will you get it into your head that I hated my brother and everything he did just as much as you do?"

"_LIAR!_" How dare him! Trying to get on my side… I wasn't having any more of this. I turned on my heel and stormed out of his bedroom, scanning around for the door out of here. The Captain's chamber looked so different to how it had all those years ago when Paul Bellamy had told me my parents were dead. Dead by _his_ army, as I found out later. Because of the difference in the furnishings, I couldn't find the door straight away, giving Matthew a chance to catch up with me.

"Jess, please listen…"

_Ah, there it is._

I'd found the door. I ignored the Captain and raced towards it, slamming my hand down on the release panel and running through once it slid open. I tried to block my ears to the calls of "Jess! Jessica! Please, wait!" coming from behind me. I couldn't. And the running footsteps just seemed to get closer the further away I ran from the Captain's chamber.

Suddenly something caught hold of my shoulder and spun me round so quickly that I lost my balance and fell into the figure standing before me. It grabbed hold of both my shoulders, pulled me on to my feet again, and spoke.

"Jess. I know you hate me, and you're scared about what's happened to you, but I want you to pwomise me one thing."

'_P__w__omise'… Oh. It's him._

I looked up into the blue, blue eyes. I was too upset to argue with him. "What?"

"Stay away from Dominic Howard."

"What do you have against him?"

"The fact that he took that life-energy from you. You should be holding that against him as well."

"I… I just don't understand… any of this…" I was trying and failing to hold back sobs.

"It's alright, I know. Come back with me, and let me explain." He made to put his arm around my shoulders and lead me back to his chamber, but I wasn't having that.

"_No!_ Leave me alone!" I ducked out from under his arm and ran down the corridor, round to the left, down another corridor…

"_Jess!_ Come ba- Just stay away from Dom Howard, ok?"

_If you think I'm going to do as I say you've got another thing coming, Bellamy._


	5. Bliss: 5

A few minutes of solid running and crying passed before I realised I was completely lost. The Captain's chambers were on the top deck of the ship, somewhere I rarely went, so I hardly knew the layout of the place. I was too tired to go any further, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I settled for curling up in a ball halfway down the corridor I was in, next to the wall. I doubted there would be anywhere better, and I was too tired to move. A couple of minutes' sleep wouldn't hurt…

z_z

"Hey! Hey, wake up…"

An annoying yet familiar voice roused me from my sleep. I unwillingly opened my eyes.

"You ok?"

"K-Kyle?" I stumbled over my words, half awake. I was impressed that I'd remembered his name, though.

"Yeah, it's me. You alright?" He looked concerned.

"Um… yeah…" I tried to sit up but didn't manage too well. He helped me.

"Sure?"

_Ok, you're getting annoying now._

"Yes. I'm fine. Er… what's that?" I pointed to a piece of paper lying on the spotless floor of the corridor. Kyle had his hand on it, like he'd been previously holding it but had dropped it to the floor.

"Oh, it's a note for you. From the Captain."

"Let me see?" I took the note. It read:

_*.* What I gave you isn't permanent. The stuff that Dom took was. You'll have to eat a lot of chocolate from now on if you want to stop collapsing everywhere. *.*_

"Oh! And he also said to give you this. You've got to eat it now, apparently." Kyle handed me a half-eaten bar of Galaxy that looked familiar. "And he said to tell you… to… stay away from someone… 'stay away from the blonde', that was it, and… to go and see him if you want to understand things better. I hope that makes more sense to you than it does to me." He said, finishing with an overly cheery smile.

"Yes, that makes sense." By now the note from the Captain was crumpled up in my hand. I was seething.

_How dare he? How dare he leave me that snide little note, how dare he leave me the chocolate _he_ was eating? And as for telling me to stay away from 'the blonde'… well that's not going to happen, _Mister_ Bellamy. And there is no way I am going to you for an explanation on this. No. Way._

"Hey, are you alright?" Kyle asked for the third time. "I think you'd better eat that chocolate, it was the Captain's order, after all…"

"I'm _fine_. And I'm not going to eat this." I attempted to stand up, but failed. In the end I had to lean on Kyle to balance, and even then there was no way I'd be able to stay upright enough to walk. It felt exactly like before I'd fallen asleep in the corridor. The words from the Captain's note were ringing around in my head.

_I'm going to _have_ to eat this chocolate, aren't I?_

I eventually gave in. I took a bite from the end I knew hadn't already been chewed by the Captain, but I didn't feel any better. Instead, I just wanted more. Kyle watched in bemusement as I slowly slid back down to the floor, devouring the whole chunk. Once I was finished, I felt a little embarrassed.

"Um… could you… could you show me the way down to third deck? I'm- I don't really know my way around here." I smiled at him, hoping desperately that there was no chocolate around my mouth.

"Y-yeah, ok. Well, you're almost there, actually. Turn left down here and the lift's at the end of the corridor… do you need any help?" He seemed a little scared of me now. I didn't blame him.

"No, I'm fine now." I easily got to my feet, cursing the fact that the Captain had been right about chocolate making it all better. "Well, thanks Kyle. See you… around…" My face was beetroot red.

_Why am I such a pillock?_

"And you…" He smiled awkwardly at me and we quickly hurried off in opposite directions.

"Jess, where the hell have you been? The Captain kept you up there for ages-"

"Wonder what they were doing up there…"

"Shut up, Tom. Are you ok now, Jess? Do you need anything? Glass of water? Food?"

"Contraception?"

"_Tom!_"

Chris and Tom had been waiting to ambush me in my cabin, it seems.

"Chris, I'm fine. Tom, fuck the hell off." I slumped down on my bed, pulling the duvet over my head.

"Charming." Tom came and pullet the duvet back off. "You sure you're alright?"

"Y…eah." I was surprised. Tom didn't usually show feelings. Opinion, yes. Feelings…no.

"Good good." He smiled, then blushed, then dived at Chris who was going "Awww…"

I sighed and closed my eyes. It was good to be back in familiar territory.

"How was it, going up there again?" Chris asked. He knew how much I hadn't wanted to go, and he'd obviously guessed it was because of the bad memories.

"It was fine, actually. The furnishings are completely different now; there was hardly anything to make me remember… y'know." I skipped over the painful bit.

"I'm glad."

"So am I. What am I glad about?" Tom asked.

"Don't worry…" Chris and I said at the same time. We glanced at each other, and laughed. "Hey Jess, want a cup of tea?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, go on then." I automatically got up to go to Tom and Chris' cabin. I always hung out in there, never in my cabin, because I wasn't sharing with any of the other girls in the crew- there was an odd number of us- and it got really lonely. I followed the other two out, locking my door behind me. We were halfway to their cabin when a voice spoke up from behind us.

"Hey Jess, wait a sec."

I stood still.

_It's him…_ _Dom… what should I do? The Captain said he was a danger to me… maybe I should listen to him? But… Dom's so gorgeous… and Chris and Tom are here so he can't really do anything even if he _is _dangerous…_

I kept on making excuses to myself as I slowly turned round to reply to Dominic.

"Hey Dom…"

He flashed his brilliant grin at me, and I wasn't going anywhere. "Hey yourself. I wanted to… ask you something." His eyes flicked up to regard Chris and Tom, who had also stopped. He was giving them a very obvious _'piss off' _look.

"C'mon Chris." Tom said, tugging at my brother's sleeve. "Jess, we'll wait for you in our cabin, yeah?"

I gave him a 'thanks' look. But Chris didn't seem to want to move.

"Chris, _c'mon_…" Tom kept badgering him quietly and eventually, though reluctantly, he left. I felt immensely relieved. I was finally on my own with the gorgeous Domini-

_Wait. If he really did take that energy off of me this morning, I am now in deep shit. Tom and Chris are gone, there's no-one else around…_

"Sooo…" He dragged out the vowel sound, putting a hand against the wall and leaning in, his body getting closer to mine. I noticed that the arm pushing against the wall was effectively blocking me off from going in the direction of Chris and Tom's cabin.

_Oh shit_.

"Your brother doesn't seem to like me that much." He frowned, but still managed to look adorable.

"Yeah… he's very protective." I glanced behind me. No-one in sight.

"Shame. I..." He cut off and looked down, smiling at some kind of private joke he had. I still felt fully energised, so my fears about him being a danger to me were slowly slipping away.

"Yes?" I prompted him.

"I was wondering if I could have your cabin number?" He looked up at me shyly, mouth open slightly as he waited for a response. Out here in space, asking for someone's cabin number was about the same level as asking for their phone number. I was pretty chuffed- he'd only met me twice before now, and only in passing. And one of those times, I'd collapsed. I had to be careful with this one.

"Um… I don't know…" I chose the safe, cowardly answer.

"If you don't want to give it to me, that's fine. _I can always find out for myself…"_ He muttered the last bit to himself.

"What?" I was sure I hadn't heard him correctly. The last part almost sounded like a threat.

"I said are you in there by yourself? Your cabin, obviously." The gorgeous grin made an appearance again and I forgot about what I thought I'd heard.

_He seems to have some kind of power over me… but that doesn't seem like a bad thing somehow…_

"Yeah, I don't share with anyone." I answered.

"Oh, good." His tongue made a quick appearance between his teeth as he smiled. He moistened his bottom lip then bit it. I was staring like nobody's business. "You sure you don't want to give me your cabin number?" He asked, narrowing his eyes slightly, but still smiling. This man was a bloody expert in seduction.

I could hear some kind of muffled noise behind me but I ignored it. "Well… I don't see the harm…" I said, and Dom's smile widened, and the noise behind me got clearer. It sounded like footsteps. Running footsteps.

"Well…? Come on, you're teasing me here…" He prompted, and I would've answered straight away if I hadn't been interrupted.

"_Howard! _Dominic_… _Howard, I… I need to speak to you about… something…" The voice sounded out of breath, and it was accompanied by the running footsteps. I turned to find the Captain stood behind me, breathing heavily.

"Oh come on sir, I'm trying to pull here…" Dom glanced at me and I blushed. If he really had only been here for two days, he shouldn't dare speak to the Captain like that! I wouldn't have…

"Howard, I need to talk to you. Don't speak to me like that. Follow me." The Captain gestured down the corridor, but Dom didn't move.

"Go on, quick!" He hissed at me.

"What?" I replied.

"Your cabin nu-"

"Howard, _now_!" The Captain interrupted again. Dominic gave a very frustrated sigh and flashed me an apologetic look. However, as he began to follow the Captain, his eyes never leaving mine, it quickly twisted into a grin and he winked at me before turning around to… almost _strut_ off down the corridor.

_What an utterly _gorgeous-

My thoughts were interrupted by Bellamy's voice. "Off you go, Wolstenholme." He raised his eyebrows meaningfully at me from down the corridor. I rolled my eyes and slowly turned to walk down to Tom and Chris' cabin, like a reluctant teenager. For a brief moment I thought that in the Captain's expression there had been some kind of warning, probably a reminder to stay away from Dom. But then thinking about that certain blonde got me completely distracted, and Dom's grin blazed away in my mind's eye as I walked the familiar path to my brother's cabin.


	6. Bliss: 6

I was having an _excellent _dream.

"I want you to marry me."

"Wh-what?"

"Jess. Marry me."

"But Dom… Are you sure?"

"Yes. Of course I am, I love you. What do you say?"

"Y-"

But then a giant vulture swooped down and buried his talons in _my_ Dominic's shirt, and carried him off into the sunset, beeping as he went…

_Beep. Beep._

Beeping as he…

_Beep. Beep._

Beeping…

_Beep. Beep._

"Jess!"

Something was shaking me. The vulture! He must've come back to carry me off to his-

"Jessica!"

_Dominic…_

"Jess, come on…"

"Yes!" I flung my arms around his neck, sitting up in my bed. He was so startled that he fell down on top of me.

Oh.

I wasn't dreaming. Dom had _not_ just asked me to marry him. There was no vulture, just someone trying to wake me up. The non-existent vulture wasn't beeping- it was the ship's alarm. And I had just pulled Tom down on top of me.

"Oh… Tom… um, sorry…" I pushed him off of me and sat up again, fully red in the face.

"Er… it's ok. Um… yeah." Tom scratched the back of his neck, his face just as red as mine, from what I could see in the dark.

"What time is it?" I asked, rubbing my sleepy eyes.

"Um… five in the morning, Earth time, I think…" He replied, sitting down next to me. He looked almost as tired as I felt.

"Oh. And why have you woken me up now?" I made to lie back down again, determined to get a full night of sleep, but Tom suddenly dived at me and grabbed me round my waist, pulling me to my feet. "What?" I pushed him futilely in a sleepy protest.

"Shit! I forgot, I'm so bloody tired… I woke you up because the alarm went off! We need to get down to the atrium…" He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the room.

I suppose I'd better explain.

To start, you may wonder why we still use Earth time when our ancestors all left that planet years ago. Well, we need _some_ kind of time scale so we can organise when to have 'night' and 'day', because obviously it's always dark in space (apart from when you go past a star, of course). We use Earth's time scale solely because that's where the whole crew, being human, originated from. It kind of feels like we still have a connection to the place, although most of us have never seen and will never see it. We have a synthesized daylight system which makes it look like we're having a sunrise and sunset at the beginning and end of every day, instead of a basic 'lights on, lights off' technique. It's all very complicated, and if I tried to explain the whole working system it would take forever. But, in a nutshell, that is basically how this all works.

We also have an alarm on the ship. Just one alarm, to alert you, and then the speaker that's connected to the main deck will tell you what the actual danger is. That's Dave and his crew's job, like what they did when we were crashing a couple of days ago. Whenever the alarm goes off and there _isn't_ an announcement however, it means we all have to meet in the atrium- the main and biggest part of the ship.

The last time we had a gathering in there was when Captain Paul Bellamy called the whole crew down, handed over command to his brother, and then committed suicide on the spot, in front of everyone. We never expected it, and we still don't know why it happened. The funny thing is, Captain Matthew Bellamy didn't and still doesn't seem to be grieving for his brother. Of course there were the rumours that he blackmailed and threatened his older sibling to do it, but I don't think that's true. Matthew doesn't seem capable of such murder. I reckon the reason he isn't sad is because he knew that it was going to happen beforehand, and why. I just wish he'd tell the rest of us…

Tom and I were running down to the atrium. He was still holding my hand, and it was getting all sweaty. I grimaced, but he was holding mine so tightly that I couldn't get free.

We finally made it down, and burst through the doors onto the balcony, panting heavily.

Captain Bellamy and the whole of the rest of the crew were already there and completely silent, and they were _all looking at us._ Most of them looked pretty angry or fed up, and there were a few faces that were smirking in plain amusement. I shyly looked up at the Captain, expecting his expression to be the former, but he had one eyebrow raised and seemed to be fighting off a smirk of his own.

Tom and I shuffled a 'walk of shame' down the stairs to join the crew, faces bright red. I spotted Chris, who looked thoroughly embarrassed, and ran over to hide behind him.

"Okay, now _all_ of the crew is here, I have an announcement to make." The Captain stood on a little raised platform so we could all see him, and the acoustics of the room meant we could all hear him, as well. He looked straight at me when he said the first part, and I scowled back at him. "We have made plans to land for fuel and stock on the planet Orrup; we should be landing there in about 4 days so I'd like everyone to prepare. You will all have lodgings on the planet itself, as the ship needs to be relocated to take in fuel."

A murmur of complaint ran through the crowd at that- we _never_ slept anywhere other than the ship, even when landing on other planets.

"Look, I'm sorry, but the place where we've been allocated to land is too far away from the fuelling station for the ship to stay where it is once landed, and the air around the fuelling station will be toxic anyway. There's nothing I can do about it, I wish there was another way but there isn't." The Captain tried to make the peace, but the crew didn't look convinced.

"Bet you he's gonna sneak in here and sleep in his quarters every night while we have to kip in some shoddy hotel…" Tom whispered to Chris, who grinned.

"We will be staying on the planet for a week, so you'll have plenty of time to wander around and… and stuff…" The Captain seemed to lose thread of what he was saying, and he paused for a second, looking up at the ceiling with a worried expression on his face. It seemed like he'd heard something unusual, and was checking to see if it would happen again.

There was a moment's silence, then-

The whole ship seemed to turn upside-down and the right way up again about three times, everyone falling about and screaming, and I couldn't see, there was darkness and then a blur of light and a flash of blue and then black again and a smudge of bluey-green and suddenly I could see the stars through the window and suddenly I couldn't, and it all went black again and then blue and then… blonde.

"I've got you." Strong arms wrapped around my waist, holding me tightly. The ship eventually stopped spinning, everyone eventually stopped tumbling, and I _think_ we were the right way up now, rocking slightly from side to side, and I was lying on the floor with Dominic Howard next to me, and I was holding on to him for dear life.

"D-Dom…"

"Yeah?" His head was resting on my shoulder but he moved so he was looking at me. He was very close. I could feel the entire length of his right leg pressed against mine whilst his left leg bent over the top, _my_ left leg in between.

"What the hell was that?" I blinked a few times and turned to look over my shoulder as much as I could without releasing my arms from around his neck.

In my peripheral senses I could hear the Captain shouting at someone- "You're telling me there was _no-one_ on the controls when that happened? You should have used the video link rather than come out of the control cabin, we could've crashed, people could've been seriously injured…"

Dom didn't seem to be paying attention to the same thing as I, however, for he quickly shrugged my question away and asked one of his own. "I dunno… you hurt?" He stroked my hair as I turned to look at him again, and this time his nose was almost touching mine.

"No." I couldn't manage more than that, with such a gorgeous man so close to me.

He smiled. "Good." His hand stopped stroking my hair and came to rest on the side of my head, his thumb tentatively reaching around to stroke my cheek. His eyes locked with mine as he kept that cute little smile on his face, and he kept his thumb going on my cheek, steady, light movements. He seemed to unconsciously pull my body in even tighter against his, if that was even possible, and his left arm held me strongly while his right hand gently caressed my cheek and his eyes were still looking into mine, the pupils impossibly big, the grey irises warm and inviting, the smile still lingering on his lips, his warm breath floating across my cheeks, and I felt myself begin to grow weaker, and I began to breathe slower, and relax into him, and I recognised the feeling from when this had happened before, and it felt like my strength was leaving me even quicker than it had then, but I didn't mind, because of his arm and his hand and his smile and his _eyes_…

"You know, you never did give me your cabin number…" He murmured softly, his gaze still fixed with mine. I couldn't answer, I couldn't do anything. He was so… _breathtaking_, everything about him. I ignored the voice of the Captain that was now replaying in some tiny part of my head- '_stay away from him, he's a danger to you'_- and just relaxed into Dominic, giving in, giving up, giving away…

"Howard!" Footsteps.

"Dominic Howard!" More footsteps, closer this time.

"What the fuck, man?" Even more footsteps. Tom's footsteps. And Chris'. And… the Captain's.

The warmth that I had been pressed into was taken away from me as my brother grabbed Dom by his collar and hauled him to his feet.

Tom was immediately by my side, crouching down as I sleepily rolled onto my back. "How come he always ruins it?" I said to Tom, 'he' being the Captain. But strangely, I saw the Captain himself smile, perfectly timed to my remark. I dismissed the thought as Tom started interrogating me.

"Since when have you and Howard been on 'lying on the floor in each other's arms' terms?" He smirked.

"Um… since then, I suppose…" I closed my eyes and groaned. I just wanted to go to sleep, but I wasn't tired. Strange, huh?

"Thomas, I think Christopher could use your help…" The Captain walked over and murmured to Tom.

"No he doesn't, he's got him in a headlock, I don't think he needs any help with tha-" Tom argued.

"I don't mean help to restrain Dominic; I mean help to restrain _himself_. I don't want any injuries, okay?" The Captain clapped Tom on the shoulder as he grudgingly went over to help Chris.

"You're so cheesy…" I said to the Captain as he crouched down next to me. He smiled, but ignored my comment.

"Here." He handed me a square of chocolate, looking around first to make sure no-one was watching, which is fair enough because I suppose it was a pretty weird thing to do.

I, however, was not going to do what he told me to. I threw the chocolate over the other side of the room.

He sighed. "Now look here. If you're not going to co-operate I'll just leave you here and you'll never get your bloody energy back, d'you hear?" He held out another piece of chocolate.

I took it, and ate it, glaring at him the whole time.

"There." He said. I didn't want to admit it, but I actually felt better. "Now, you _should_ be able to walk up to my quarters, if you can't make it all the way I've got more here…"

I had got up while he said this, and was now standing. "What? Why do I have to go up there?"

"Keep your voice down, will you? Someone'll hear!" He looked around, and the crew had indeed mostly recovered and liable to hearing anything we said.

I just glared again.

"You can't keep going on chocolate. It's not permanent." He kept glancing around. "Look, can we-"

"Well neither is the stuff _you_ give me, or so you said!" I hissed at him.

He looked awfully frustrated. "If you'd have given me a better chance to explain than writing a fucking _note_ then you would understand all of this by now! For God's sake… can we just get out of the atrium please?" He didn't wait for an answer, just walked away. I was a little shocked at his outburst, so I followed.

He was walking so fast, it was hard for me to keep up. Especially with my energy levels decreasing by the second. By the time we were on the second floor I simply couldn't stand up any more, and I collapsed just as the Captain turned the corner ahead of me.


	7. Bliss: 7

I woke up crying. It was a horrible feeling, being this weak.

"Shh, it's ok, I've got you…"

Those words had been said to me not so long before, and it made me take notice of where I was.

Lying on a sofa, wrapped in Captain Bellamy's arms.

_Eugh._

"Charming." He smiled at me, but there was a pained look in his eyes.

_Get off, you pervert._

I was incapable of speech due to my weakness, but that didn't mean that I couldn't insult him through my mind.

"Excuse me, but I am not a pervert. Remember what I said to you the last time, about needing to give you the energy back in exactly the same way as you lost it?"

_No._

"Come on now, don't be difficult. I can see it there, in your memowy, so there's no point in pwetending."

_Aww, bless__- 'memo__w__y', 'p__w__etending'…_

He sighed.

_Sorry. Are you going to get off yet?_

"No, that's the point. Dominic took the energy from you in this position, so that's how I've got to give it back. Do you get it yet?"

_No need to be so patronising._

I huffed feebly into his shoulder, hiding my face away. I felt him shift around a little.

_Well this is just great. Stuck here, unable to move, with this bast-_

He coughed, and I shut my mind up.

"Do you also remember- no, what's the point in asking, I know you do."

_What?_

"The part about being in the same _mindset_ as you were when Howard was taking your energy."

_What, so you mean I have to…_ I remembered the pure lust I had been feeling and immediately dismissed the idea. _You know what, that is _never_ going to happen so I suggest you just give me a lifetime's supply of chocolate and be done with it._

"You're not even going to try?"

_What's the point?_

"You'll be in this state for the rest of your life if you don't."

_Fine but… no offence or anything, but you're hardly as… drop-dead-gorgeous as Dominic. _I couldn't stop myself, the thought just slipped through my mind, and he must've heard it.

He didn't say a word.

I looked up at him, with a bit of effort. _Sir, I'm sorry. I'll try…_ Regret and guilt soared through me.

He looked at me for a second, still not speaking. I tried to say sorry through my eyes as well as I could whilst fighting just to keep them open in my fatigue. He still didn't say anything, but pulled my head against his chest and rested his chin on the top of my head. I sighed.

"M'never good enough…" He mumbled.

"What?" My head whipped back to look at him. He stared at me.

"You spoke." He stated, simply. "I wasn't even trying to give you any energy back."

"Oh…" The revelation confused me slightly, but my curiosity eventually won over. "What did you just say?"

"I wasn't trying to-"

"Before that."

"N-nothing." He looked away as he realised what I meant.

"You said you're never good enough." I stated. He closed his eyes. When he opened them again he was looking down.

"Well I'm not." He mumbled.

"Yes you are."

He looked at me, and smiled. "Don't contradict yourself. You _hate_ me."

"No I d-" I stopped when I realised how stupid I sounded, contradicting away. I owed this man an explanation. "Okay, I do. But I'm prepared to stop that now. I hated your brother, when he was alive… it's not fair that I should… y'know, feel the same about you… I mean, I hardly know you! It's only been four weeks since you came aboard this ship, so…"

_Oh shit, I'm rambling…_

He chuckled. "You feeling better?"

"Yes."

"Good." He still had his arms around me. His body was just as close to mine as Dominic's had been. "Completely better?"

"Yes."

"Good-di- I- I'm glad." He looked me in the eye and smiled an apology for his stutter. I smiled back.

"Thank you."

He looked surprised. "It's ok… God, I've got to get used to this… you not insulting me every minute…" He laughed.

_God, those blue eyes…_

He stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow.

_Fuck._

"U-um… I'd better go now…" I extracted myself from his arms and found my way off the sofa.

"You like my eyes?"

"No." _Yes._

"You're very good at contradicting yourself, you know." The smug Captain's voice was back.

"Oh shut up!" I stomped out of the room, my cheeks bright red.

_But those eyes…_

o_o

Doing breakfast that morning was absolute torture. I was so bored it's unreal. I'd much rather be doing a proper, hands on job that might actually save the crew and the ship than handing out food to 400 mostly ungrateful people.

So bored was I that I decided to carry out a little experiment.

_Oy. Captain Bellamy. Yes you. If you can hear me, order tomatoes with your breakfast._

Before dishing out that lovely piece of thought-work, I'd looked around the room to check if he was there. He wasn't, and it was quite early in the morning; only about 30 people were there. So I figured that he'd probably still be up in his chamber, getting up and so forth. His quarters were right at the top of the ship, and the kitchen was right at the bottom, so what I was really doing is seeing if the whole mind-reading thing would work over large distances.

After doing that, all I had to do was sit tight and wait for him to come down for his breakfast…

An hour and 300 people later, he came through the door. I tried to keep my mind blank, so he wouldn't have a chance of knowing about the 'experiment' now that he was at a closer range. I served everyone in front of him in a bit of a hurry, and I think I was a bit rude to some people, but I'm not too sure. And I didn't really care, either.

"Sausage, egg and chips, please." He was finally there. And no tomatoes ordered, either. As I turned around to press the appropriate buttons I did a little victory dance that he wouldn't be able to see. This meant he couldn't read my mind over 5 floors of the ship (about 22 metres), and that meant _privacy_.

I was smiling as I handed him his plate.

"Oh, and by the way," He leaned in slightly as if to tell me a secret. "I don't like tomatoes."

_NOOOOOOO!_


	8. Bliss: 8

The day of the planned landing on Orrup, and the whole ship was absolute chaos. I was absolutely fed up with the clutter and noise everywhere, so I made my way down to the empty atrium and instead of going down the steps, I walked all the way round the circular balcony so I was at the front of the room- therefore the front of the ship- and looking out of the 2 ½ metre high windows that swept along the front face of the ship.

The planet Orrup was a beautiful baby blue colour, with hints of darker blue towards the two poles and wispy white clouds floating around the middle. I stood there for a couple of minutes, just staring out at the glorious view. I suppose the last time I'd really appreciated a view out in space was that time about 5 years ago when we flew past a newly-born nebula with a neutron star at the centre. Now that was a sight worth seeing. But since then I've always been more focused on what had been going on _inside_ the spaceship. So this was a weird experience for me. I watched as the clouds swirled around the beautiful blue planet. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

_Maybe a person… no, how could __a blue planet reflect a person? Must be a place… If only I could remember it…_

I gave up after a while, and simply stared out at it again.

"Beautiful, huh?"

I jumped a mile. I hadn't heard any footsteps, and whoever this was had well and truly snuck up on me. I turned around.

"But it's not the only thing…" Dom Howard reached out a hand to stroke my cheek. I flinched. "You okay?" He picked up on my discomfort, but moved closer to me regardless.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'd um… better be going, got to… pack…" Truth is I'd already finished, but I didn't want to be with Dom on my own. Drop-dead gorgeous as he was, I had begun to get a little bit concerned about the drop-dead part, never mind the gorgeous.

"No you haven't, you're finished." He said, smiling at me.

"How do you know that?" I hoped my backing off wasn't too noticeable.

"Heard your brother and Kirk complaining about how it's unfair that you can pack so quickly, especially being a _girl_ and all." He chuckled.

_I'll kill Tom._

"Stay with me. Look out at the view. You won't get another chance."

I looked at him, confused. "I will in a week, once we leave…"

"We'll see."

I stared at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You said-"

"Look at that!" He pointed out of the window, but I wasn't looking. I began to walk away.

"Oh no you don't…" I heard quick footsteps behind me and I began to run, not even glancing over my shoulder. I didn't like this at all…

Arms wrapped around my waist and brought me to a stop. I fought them but Dom was too strong and he'd soon turned me around.

_Captain! Captain, he's-_

"You're not getting away from me again." He said, his voice teetering down into a whisper by the last word. We were both breathing heavily from the quick sprint but I couldn't get away from his vice-like grip. He gave me a look up and down my body and it felt like he was x-raying me. Then, he moved one of his hands up to my face and his thumb stroked my cheek, just like that last time when we'd been on the floor. He smiled coldly, and slowly leant in and kis-

"HOWARD!"

Dominic's lips left mine and he closed his eyes, his breathing very controlled. I could tell he was very angry or frustrated, one of the two.

"Captain." He acknowledged the Captain's presence and his eyes opened. His forehead left mine and he looked at me for a second before locking eyes with the man over the other side of the balcony. "Did you want something?" His tone of voice was ridiculously sarcastic, and his eyes were mere slits as he smiled in fake respect.

"Get away from her." The Captain ordered. Of course, there was no-one around to get the wrong idea from this exchange, so he could use whatever way he liked to get Dom away from me. He happened to choose the plainest, simplest way- say it straight out.

"Why should I?" Dominic growled, turning his head to face me but keeping his eyes on the Captain.

"That's an order, Howard." Bellamy looked halfway between confident and terrified.

"Oh?" Dominic looked up at the Captain again, his smile back, his expression calmer and much more confident. "And who are you to order me about?"

"I'm your Captain, Howard."

"No, I don't think so. I'm not part of this shitty crew." He turned his head to look out of the window. His arm was still holding me to him by my waist. I couldn't move an inch away.

Captain Bellamy sighed very quietly and began to walk over to us. Dominic obviously thought he posed no threat because he kept on looking out of the window.

However, as soon as he was close enough, Bellamy ripped Dominic's arm off of me and grabbed his collar in one swift movement. Their noses were almost touching and both men's faces screamed murder.

"Then get the hell off of my ship."

_Fuck yeah!_ I inwardly shouted my encouragement, and then remembered he could hear me. The Captain's eyes flicked in my direction and then straight back to Dominic, but I could swear the corner of his mouth twitched.

Dominic aggressively pulled himself out of Bellamy's grasp and gave him the dirtiest of looks before turning on his heel and strutting out of the atrium. My mouth was hanging open.

The Captain turned to look at me.

I swiftly closed my mouth.

He smiled.

I opened it again. "You? Violence? Where the hell did that come from?"

"Where on Earth did you get the idea that I am not capable of being violent?" He sounded very smug. I didn't answer. "Are you ok, though? He didn't-" He trailed off and raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You got here just in time."

_Ooh, that rhymed._

He smiled, and it made me smile too.

"Well, almost time to land so I suggest you go and get strapped in." He said, his voice at once becoming more professional. And then I saw why. "That goes for you too, Kirk. What are you doing out here, anyway?"

Tom blushed and looked down at his feet. "I was looking for Jess, but… I've found her, so… yeah…"

There was an awkward pause.

"Off you go, then." The Captain broke the silence and I immediately set off in Tom's direction. But as I went I still had something I wanted to say to the Captain. So I made sure Tom wouldn't hear.

_Thank you._

V_V

"Tom, stop holding my hand!"

"I thought you wanted me to."

"I don't!"

He looked genuinely disappointed. I felt sorry for him.

"Tom, you can hold my hand if you want." I smiled at him and took his hand again.

"You two should get together." Chris said from my other side.

I reacted by shoving him, hard, and I thought Tom would do the same. But he just sat, silently, red slowly creeping into his cheeks.

Chris and I noticed, and fell silent.

It was very awkward, us all being strapped into our seats, ready to land.

_Fuck. Why is Tom being like this?_

But my thoughts were interrupted as a crackly voice rang out through our chamber.

"_Landing in 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… … … …"_

"You'd think that if they were counting in seconds they'd bloody time it right…" Chris murmured as the pause went on.

We waited… and waited… and wai-

CRASH!

"_1…0. Spaceship _Bliss_ docked on docking station 509 on planet Orrup. Welcome, everyone. You may leave the ship."_

"Bloody finally!" Chris cried, undoing his seat straps with a flourish. I too freed myself, but Tom seemed to be struggling. "Here mate, let me help…" Chris advanced on Tom but jumped back when Tom shouted his disapproval.

A minute later and lots of Chris' offers of help denied, Tom hadn't got any further. I hadn't spoken yet, so I decided to give it a go.

"Tom mate, you're not getting anywhere. Come on, we'll be the last off the ship!"

He looked at me. "Fine. Can you help, then?"

Chris started forwards again, sighing and smiling at me, but Tom shouted "No!" so he stopped.

"Wha-"

"I mean yes. Go on." Tom had glanced at me and then quickly away again, mouthing 'oh shit'.

"Tom, are you feeling ok?" I asked, moving closer.

"I'm fine. C'mon, let's go." Chris had freed Tom and he was immediately out the door, heading down to the atrium where we could exit the ship. Chris and I followed, bewildered.


	9. Bliss: 9

I stepped out into the blue light, shading my eyes.

"Because of this planet's blue- ah, late again, Wolstenholme." The Captain was speaking to the whole crew outside the ship, and I had a feeling of déjà vu as everyone turned to look at me. I blushed. The Captain once again had a smile on his face, rather than looking angry. I looked to the side and Tom was just as red as I, but Chris was just grinning like an idiot- he'd spotted Kelly. I rolled my eyes and joined the crowd. The Captain carried on speaking.

"As I was _saying_, because of this planet's blue atmosphere, all the light coming through will also be blue. It's going to take some getting used to, but we're only here for a week so if it's not to your taste then you won't have to endure it for long. That seems to be about it…" He checked down some kind of list he had- I guessed I'd missed the rest of the information. "Ah, no, I have a warning from the planet's government- to the…" He stopped, and seemed to be working something out. "eas- no, west of where we are now, about 5 or 6 miles away, there is a forest. None of you are to go _anywhere near it_. It's been marked as a highly dangerous area, and I really don't want any casualties on my first stop-off in command."

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten that we'd never landed on a planet with _this_ Captain Bellamy before.

"No more information is given about it, I'm afraid, but frankly I don't want to know. Okay, so all that leaves is for me to show you where we're all going to be staying for the week. If you could grab your bags and follow me…"

He folded the little sheet of paper up, picked up his own bags, and began to walk, the front of the crowd tottering along behind him. I wondered how he knew where to go… I'd done some research and the spaceship _Bliss_ hadn't landed on the planet Orrup for over 500 years, so the Captain would've had no way of knowing his way around.

Chris seemed to share my thoughts, for he asked Kelly the same question.

"I don't know, to be honest with you-" she replied, but then the baby started crying and her attention was diverted so quickly I could've sworn I heard a swish as it moved.

Chris just looked at me, raised his eyebrows, shook his head, smiled, and then latched his attention onto the baby as well. I sighed and looked at Tom. He offered me a small smile but didn't say anything.

_Well this is just great._

Suddenly a sharp pain shot through my wrist, and at the same time I noticed the whole crowd had stopped moving forwards. The pain rang through my wrist again, and I gasped with the pain, grasping it with my other hand.

"You alright, Jess?" Tom asked quietly- the crowd's rabble was beginning to die out. There was obviously something going on up at the front, but I couldn't see anything, and to be honest, I was more focused on my painful wrist.

"Yeah, my wrist just-ah!" I actually cried out that time, and a few people looked round at me.

By now the crowd was quiet enough that I could hear what was going on at the front. The pain had subsided a little, so I listened in. It was the Captain speaking- he sounded in pain…

"I-I think that'll be enough now, thank you…"

"You cannot pass," a voice I couldn't recognise replied to him. I couldn't see the figure that was speaking, but I guessed it was a native from the planet.

"Listen, can I talk to you in private please? I need to tell" Captain Bellamy sighed, and began again. "I- There's something you need to know. Can I talk to you o-or one of your… friends in private please?"

"We were expecting a crew of 401 humans, including a Captain."

"Yes, I know, that's what I'm going to explain, if you'll just let me speak to you!" The Captain seemed worried about something. I was peering over the heads of the crew, and I could just about see the Captain through a gap. He seemed to have some kind of strap around his wrist.

One of the natives muttered something, to which the Captain said- "Oh come on, is that really necess-" he suddenly hissed in pain and another jolt shot through my wrist, making me gasp again. The pain _he_ was feeling seemed to be coming from the strap around his wrist, but what about the pain _I_ was feeling, in exactly the same wrist? No-one else seemed to be affected…

"You need to tell us this thing. In here." The native said, and the Captain turned and, with a bitter look on his face, walked away. We all stayed where we were.

"What the hell was that thing on his wrist?"

"What did they mean, they were expecting humans? We _are_ all human, aren't we?"

"Did you see that _creature_?"

I zoned out. To be honest I couldn't care less what was going on, I just wanted a _bed_.

About 5 minutes passed before the Captain re-appeared. I looked around for a sight of a native but there were none to be seen. The crowd started to move again. I stayed where I was- I'd zoned out a little _too_ much and was standing in a sleepy daze.

I faintly heard Chris say "No Tom, leave her there, it'll be funny…" and Kelly giggle, but I still didn't move.

_Yeah, thanks Chris._

When everyone was about two metres away I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped a _mile._

"Hey, it's just me…"

I knew that voice.

I relaxed. It wasn't a native kidnapper trying to murder me. The Captain smiled. "I wanted to firstly remind you that we have about 20 minutes still to walk for before we can sleep, and… I wanted to say sorry."

We began to walk together.

"Oh, it's ok, I didn't mind. Nor did anyone else, actually… have you gone and personally said sorry to everyone?" I smiled, but I must've looked a bit confused because that's how I felt. Why was he saying sorry to _me_ for the 5 minute wait when he went in that cabin?

"Er… no… why, was everyone in pain?" He looked concerned.

"What?"

"What?"

"Are we talking about the same thing here?" I looked at him.

"I don't think so." He smiled a little, but still looked confused.

"I'm talking about the wait. When you went in the cabin."

He laughed. "Ah! No, I'm not saying sorry for that, although I suppose I should…" His brow furrowed and he walked in silence for a couple of steps. When it was evident that he wouldn't speak again without a prompt, I gave him one, and he continued speaking. "_I_ was talking about the pain in your wrist. Sorry about that."

"Oh. Wait- how do you know about that?"

"The same reason that I know what colour underwear you're wearing."

"_Excuse me?_" I stared at him.

He smirked and tapped his temple.

_Oh. The mind reading._

He nodded his approval of my though-answer, and we carried on walking in silence. He was still smirking.

A couple of seconds passed.

"Pervert." I muttered.

"Y'think _I'm _the pervert- did you _meet_ my brother?" He replied, raising his eyebrows.

"Good point." My mind drifted back to _several_ occasions where Paul Bellamy had displayed less-than-innocent intentions towards me or one of the other female crew members, including a memorable time where Chris almost punched him in the face for smacking Kelly's bum. But then my thoughts drifted elsewhere as they so often do, and I began to wonder where on Earth we were going to stay, and what it would be like.

_I hope it's not a shit-hole…_

"Oh, it won't be. The Laths are very happy to have us here, actually."

_Laths?_ I immediately wondered what that was.

The Captain promptly answered my question. "They're the natives."

"Oh."

A few more seconds passed in silence.

"Y'know, I don't think it's fair." I said, breaking the silence.

"What?" He turned his head towards me.

_That you can read my mind, but I can't read yours. _I answered his question using my mind. How ironic.

"Oh." He sounded a little uncomfortable.

When I was sure he wasn't going to say anything else, I continued. "Well, _I_ think it should be a two way process." I stated firmly.

"Do you, now?" He smiled slightly but didn't look at me.

"Yeah." A pause. "Hey! Do you think you could teach me how to do it? Then it'd be fair!" I was getting all excited. I think I even jumped up and down a little.

"Um… it's not really something you can learn…" He replied, the smile gone.

"Isn't it?" I pondered over this, thoroughly disappointed. "Well… how can _you_ do it, then?" If it wasn't something you could learn, I couldn't see how he could do it.

"Er…" But he didn't have enough time to answer, for he was interrupted by running footsteps.

"Hey, Jess! Why are you so far behind?" Tom was coming towards the Captain and me, but he seemed to completely ignore the former.

"Well Tom, if I remember correctly, you guys _left_ me back here!" I pouted.

"And you didn't think to run up and join us?" Tom raised an eyebrow, now walking by my side.

"Well… I had the Captain for company, and-" Tom wouldn't let me finish. He grabbed my hand and started to run, tugging me along with him.

"Come on, come and join everyone else!"

"Tom, I- um, bye sir!" I shouted over my shoulder at the Captain, who was now walking on his own. He looked a little worried.

_Sorry, I don't know what's got into him…_ I sent a thought his way to explain, but in truth I think I _did_ know what had gotten into Tom.

I think he might… like me…


	10. Bliss: 10

20 minutes later, we entered what seemed to be a high street. The blue daylight had faded to a beautiful purple, and the gigantic sun had been replaced by three bright moons, shining in a triangular formation as they circled each other slowly up the sky. It was quite beautiful.

The street we'd just turned on to was lined with tall buildings, made from a light stone that resembled shortbread, or something like that. But not as crumbly. Oh, I don't know! I couldn't see much in the dim purple-y light anyway, apart from the fact that the builings were _very_ tall and there wasn't a person in sight. Or… what were they called? Lar-Laths, that was it. No Laths to be seen. I was disappointed, because I still hadn't seen one, and I really wanted to know what they looked like. I'd checked my space diary after the Captain had revealed the name of the species, and I'd definitely never come across them before, so I had no idea what they might look like. I was very curious, but it looked like I'd have to wait until morning.

"Um… is this the right place?" Someone from the front called. The Captain had given them a map earlier before coming back to walk with me, and they'd managed to navigate their way to where we were staying… or so I hoped.

"Yes, this seems to be the place." The Captain had managed to find his way back to the front of the crowd again, and was now leading everyone inside the building. "Now, I have room numbers here for you all, so I guess I'll start with the first floor and work my way up. Ok…" We turned into a slim corridor and I couldn't see anything near the front of the crowd as it was now rather stretched out. But I assumed the Captain had some kind of list written down because he called out: "Kyle Stevens, Joseph Brown and Darren Johns, room 001."

_001? Three digits? My god, that means we'll have to get into triple figures before everyone's settled! I hope I'm one of the earlier numbers…_

We steadily moved along the corridor until 20 rooms had been filled, before climbing up to the second floor, and repeating the process. Then the third, with the same thing again, 20 rooms on each floor. I did a quick mental calculation and worked out that with 401 people to give rooms to, and 3 people in each room, we would take up _more _than 120 rooms. And that meant at least 7 floors to fill. Well, I said these building were tall…

By the time we'd finished the 5th floor there were 101 of us left, including the Captain. That meant that the crowd was considerably smaller, and Chris, Tom, Kelly and I managed to push near to the front as we went up the next flight of stairs. Walking along the 6th floor, I was close to collapsing with fatigue. I couldn't believe I hadn't been called to go in a room yet!

We got to the last room on the 6th floor, and the Captain called "Room 120, Christopher Wolstenholme, Thomas Kirk, Kelly Wolstenholme and Jess Wolsten… hang on a minute, that can't be right…" He frowned and checked up and down the list.

"We don't mind all going in together," Tom piped up, probably eager just to get into a room and lie down. I nodded, my intentions the same.

"But you can't… there're only three beds and there's _five_ of you, with the baby… Kelly's going to need a room on her own and I can't have you two," He indicated Chris and Tom, "in with Jess."

"Why not?" Tom challenged, but the Captain ignored him.

"Right, so that means we're going to be a room short… I suppose I didn't account for a baby when I sorted all of this out." He smiled at Kelly. "Don't worry about it… Christopher and Thomas, you can have this room along with David McKenzie, and I'll just swap a few people around so everyone'll fit."

Tom didn't look happy, but Chris steered him in, muttering something about sleep. Kelly and I waved goodbye to them and trekked up the last staircase along with the remaining 40 crew members and the Captain.


	11. Bliss: 11

Everyone now had a room except for Kelly, the Captain and I. There were only two rooms left, both with two beds.

"Why don't Kelly and I go in this room, and we can find a cot from somewhere, and then you can have that last room?" I suggested, stupidly tired by now.

"I don't know where we're going to find a cot from, that's the trouble…" The Captain ran a hand through his hair, looking just as tired as I felt.

"Look Jess, I can't have the baby in the bed with me, I won't be able to trust myself to hold on to him all night. Why don't I…" Kelly wandered in the room, looking around for inspiration. "I could make him a little nest on the other bed with all the bags, so he won't be able to fall off…"

"Um, Kells… I won't have anywhere to sleep then…" I murmured out of the Captain's ear shot. I forgot that he could probably hear what I said from my mind, anyway.

"Well I can't do it on the floor, he'll freeze! And this bed's right next to the radiator, its perfect!" Kelly seemed very pleased with herself and immediately set about making a 'nest' on the bed for the baby. I stood in the middle of the room, forgotten.

"Jess…" It wasn't much more than a mutter but I heard it. I turned around and the Captain beckoned for me to exit the room. "I think her mind's pretty set…" He glanced back into the room where Kelly was ignoring us both, happily dumping bags on one bed while the baby rested in the middle of the other. I smiled, and looked back at the Captain.

"So…" I prompted him.

"Well… It'll only be for one night until we can sort everything out, it's just that everyone's so tired and… y'know, it won't hurt, and tomorrow we can get a cot in there so you won't have to-"

"Woah, wait a second. Sir… what are you on about?" I held my hands up to halt him. He looked a little embarrassed.

"Sorry. I do that sometimes- ramble… I mean, you're going to have to sleep in here tonight. W-with me. If that's ok." He pointed to the adjoining room.

I smiled. "Well yeah, I'd worked that out for myself without your 'rambling'." I smirked and pushed past him into the room.

He must've been embarrassed even further, but he hid it with anger. "Oy! I think you need to remember just who I am, Wolstenholme!"

I had collapsed on to the bed, thankful to at last have somewhere to lie down. I rolled over so I was facing him. "And just who are you then, _Captain Bellamy?_"

His mouth opened and closed a few times, but nothing came out. In the end he gave up and stormed over to his bed, huffing.

I got up, with a considerable amount of effort, and closed the door. I was about to switch the light off but the Captain interrupted me. "Wait. Give me two minutes." He was sat on the end of his bed, hunched over something in his lap.

"Why, what're you doing?"

"Nothing that concerns you." He didn't even turn around.

I didn't answer; I didn't think he was in the mood for joking around any more.

A few seconds passed, then he seemed to realise how cold the room had just grown. And I don't mean literally. "Just leave it; I'll do it when I'm done." He turned around and smiled at me. I half-smiled back and made my way back over to my bed. I tucked myself straight under the covers and closed my eyes- there was no _way_ I was going to get changed in front of _him_, and I was too tired to do so anyway, even if I _had_ had privacy.

A couple of minutes later, and there was a soft click, and the light coming in through my eyelids was extinguished.

_This is the bit where it gets awkward._

"You know, it really doesn't help when you think things like that." He muttered as he got into his own bed. I turned over and glared at him from a tiny gap I'd made with the duvet. He smirked back, copying my duvet-shell technique.

_I wish I could read your mind._

"No, you don't. Trust me." He turned on to his back and I could only see the side of his face; in the purple-y blue moonlight filtering in from the windows his skin looked ghostly in contrast to his raven black hair.

"Could you please stop staring at me? It's hard to get to sleep with the side of your own face imprinted in your mind."

"Sorry." I muttered out loud, and closed my eyes. But then a thought struck me- and he heard, of course.

_I wonder if he has a choice over whether he can read my mind or not?_

"I do have a choice, yes."

I was flabbergasted. "Then why the _hell _do you do it?" I said out loud. Too loud.

The baby started crying next door.

"Oh great, well done!" The Captain sighed and turned so he was facing away from me.

"You haven't answered my question." I said, marginally quieter. I was being stubborn, but I _had_ to know the answer.

"Can I answer in the morning? I'm stupidly tired and the answer's too long and complicated, anyway. And I know you're tired, too. Please?" He groaned, his voice muffled by the duvet.

"Ok then, but you'd better tell me in the morning."

"Oh, don't worry, I will…" He said, his tone of voice sarcastic. I was not impressed.

_Hmph._

"I didn't think it was possible to think that word," He chuckled to himself.

"S'not a word." I said, grumpily.

"Fine, fine." He replied.

_Night, sir._

"Night, Wolstenholme."

_Jess._

"Jess." It was barely a whisper, but I heard it. I scrunched my eyes tightly shut and smiled, satisfied.

It didn't take me long to drift off to sleep.


	12. Bliss: 12

**Monday**

"MORNING!"

I shrieked as a heavy weight plummeted onto me, waking me instantly. Once I had got my bearings I shoved the thing off of me, whatever it was, and climbed on top of it, making it still.

It was then that I realised what the thing was.

"_Tom!_ Why the fuck did you have to wake me up like that?" I sighed, closed my eyes, and rolled off of him, hoping I'd have a chance to get back to sleep.

"It was kind of a spontaneous thing." He answered, shifting onto his side so he was looking at me. "Why are you still in your clothes?"

"'Cos I didn't get changed last night." I refrained from adding a '_duh..._' on the end, because I didn't think it would sound _too_ sophisticated.

"Why not?" Tom asked. I was getting annoyed now.

"Because of _him_!" I half whispered.

"Who?" Tom persisted, but his question was answered for him.

"What the _fuck_ was that noise? Bloody hell, it's not even fully light yet!" Captain Bellamy groaned from over the other side of the room. Tom's head whipped round- apparently he hadn't noticed who my roommate was when he'd rushed in to jump on me.

"Oh. Him." Tom said, snorting.

"Kirk? What're you doing here?" The Captain sat up, stretching.

"Nothing. C'mon, Tom…" I grabbed a handful of Tom's shirt and hauled him out of the room.

"You do realise what that must've looked like, don't you?" Tom asked once we were out of the room with the door shut. "Or did you do it intentionally?" He winked at me.

"What?"

"I mean, it probably looked like we'd been sleeping together or something, and you were trying to cover up for it…" He replied, nonchalantly. My eyes widened.

"_Tom!_ You _knew_ that was going to happen! You absolute-"

"Woah, hang on a minute. What do you care if _he_ thinks we're together?" Tom looked suspiciously at me.

"Um… well, I don't…" I was confused, and Tom was right. Why _did_ I care if the Captain thought me and Tom were a couple?

"Yeah, right. I know you fancy him; I've said it all along." He started to walk down the corridor, a very smug grin on his face.

"Tom! I do _not!_" But it was no use- he wasn't listening, and soon enough he'd disappeared down the stairs. I sighed, and walked back in to my room.

"_Shit! _At least _knock_ or something!" There stood the Captain, shirtless, and looking very much like he'd only just pulled his trousers up. I backtracked, fast, and closed the door.

"Why didn't you know I was coming in?" I called through the door, my hand still on the handle, holding it shut.

"Because you were very _quiet_ about it…" The Captain's voice had gone really high pitched, and I would've found it funny if I wasn't so embarrassed.

"No, I mean why didn't you read my mind?" I said, a little quieter, in case anyone could hear.

"I was thinking about other things…" He said, sounding distracted. Various rustlings and bangs came from inside the room as he rushed to get dressed.

My mind immediately flew to the one conclusion I would have gone to if it had been Tom who had said those words. The Captain heard, of course.

"_No,_ I was _not_ having a wank." He said, and I could tell I'd annoyed him.

"Um… sorry… it's just that Tom-"

"I don't want to hear about him. I have more important things to do." The door opened and he stood before me, eyes blazing. He stared at me for a couple of seconds and then pushed past me, without saying another word. I didn't speak either as he stormed down the corridor and eventually turned onto the stairs.

Once he was out of sight I sighed and walked into the room, ready to get dressed, with my mind reeling.

Once I was ready I had absolutely _no_ idea what to do. But I wasn't about to sit in my room all day, so I decided to follow everyone else's lead and go downstairs.

When I got to the bottom floor and spied a large group of crew members standing outside the hotel I breathed a sigh of relief- I'd been wondering where everyone had got to.

But when I got closer and realised they were all silent I cursed under my breath as I worked out what was going on.

"So make sure- Wolstenholme, if you are late for any more of my meetings I will confine you to the CAM room for a _month_." The Captain didn't look happy, but I wasn't going to just meekly join the rest of the crew this time.

"Well I'm sorry, but I didn't even know there _was _a meeting. You didn't tell me." I walked towards everyone else then, having said my bit.

"How come everyone else managed to find their way down here then? You're the _only_ one-"

"Um, sir… there are other people here, you know… you think you two could have this argument later?" Chris said, his loud voice drowning out the Captain's. The latter man went bright red.

"For him." Tom said as I went to stand next to him.

"What?" I really couldn't understand Tom sometimes.

"He said 'you're the only one', I was just finishing his sentence." He said with a grin. I punched his arm.

By now the Captain had started talking again, but his face still had a pinkish tinge to it. I smirked.

"-and as long as you don't get into any fights or steal anything etcetera, you'll be fine. Not that I expect anyone to do _anything_ like that, anyway." The Captain said suggestively, raising his eyebrows at us. "Ok, well have fun everyone; make sure you're all back here by midnight."

Someone cheered as we were finally given freedom to explore the planet.

"I swear Paul Bellamy never held this many meetings when we landed somewhere…" I said to Tom rather loudly as we passed our current Captain. I could almost feel him glaring at me.

Tom smiled and shook his head. "Jess, you can do so much better than him. Set your sights on someone else."

"Tom, for the last time, I do _not_ fancy him!" I hissed, huffing angrily afterwards.

"Well if you don't fancy _him_, you can start fancying me, then!" He leant in and kissed me noisily on the cheek. I pushed him off.

"You two have some _serious _chemistry." Chris and Kelly had joined us. It was Chris who had spoken.

"I know, right?" Tom replied, throwing his arm around my shoulders. I shook my head, rolling my eyes.

None of us had any idea where we were going, so after chucking Tom's scarf in the air to determine which direction we'd go in (by which way the slightly-more-frayed end of the scarf was pointing), we turned right onto a larger street than the one we were on, and I got to see the local Laths for the first time since landing.

The whole street was set up like some kind of market, very similar to the ones I'd heard used to exist on Earth. However, the stalls were selling much stranger things than you'd find on your average human planet.

"_Lexitop!__ Lexitop at ten ida a bottle!"_

"_New hair ventodox! Ventodox for your hair!"_

"_Flamalams for sale, only twenty-five ida for a flamalam…"_

And so on. It was weird. But what was weirder was that _everyone_ in that market street, male _and_ female, looked human. And what's more, they were _all_ blonde.

"God, we must stand out a mile…" I muttered to Tom, stealing his scarf and wrapping it round my hair to hide the fact that I wasn't blonde. He then grabbed an end and hid his own brown hair.

We carried on walking down the street for a bit but after a while it just got too awkward. There didn't seem to be anything especially interesting anywhere, at least nothing we hadn't seen on a planet before, so we all decided to call it a day and get back to the hotel.


	13. Bliss: 13

"Back already?" The Captain was in our shared room when we got back. I was surprised- I thought he'd be checking the fuelling of the ship or at least having a look around the planet, like everyone else.

"Yeah…" I was distracted by this last thought so my answer wasn't as complicated as I might've liked. "Have you been in here all day?"

"Pretty much, yeah. Lots of paperwork to do. I'm surprised they still have this system out here actually, most other planets in this galaxy have moved to digital paperwork…" He said, and I noticed two massive piles of paper on the desk, one slightly higher than the other. I almost felt sorry for him.

"God, you must be bored." I said, moving closer to try and catch a glimpse of what this paperwork involved. The Captain had turned back round and was continuing with the writing.

"Mmm…" He seemed a little preoccupied, so I decided to leave him to it. I went over and sat on my bed. Then I lay down. Then I sat up again, huffing. I had absolutely _nothing_ to do.

"You know, if you're bored, you could help me with some of this…" The Captain suggested, and I literally jumped up and ran over to the desk, eager just for something to do. "Do you want to get that chair over there so you can sit down?" He pointed to the spare chair in the room, which I quickly grabbed.

"So what can I do?" I asked once I was settled.

"Well, _I_ basically have to sign every time there's a dotted line, but you can help me with everything else. The questions are quite self explanatory, and since I'm assuming you know the ship rather well, being a mechanic, you can fill all these out in a sec…" He began to scribble a signature on to a couple of pieces of paper before handing them over to me. I scanned them and they were all about the ship, like he'd said. "And if I do the ones about the planet, we'll be sorted."

I glanced over a sheet of paper he had taken from one of the piles, and it included questions like _'Have you visited this planet before?' _and_ 'What did you/didn't you enjoy about your last visit?'_ He began to answer each question in quite a lot of detail, something I didn't understand, as our ship had never visited Orrup before- at least not during the time that I've been part of the crew. I voiced my thoughts.

"How do you know so much about the planet?"

"I've… been here before."

"Really? When?"

"Have you started on your questions yet?" He smirked at me as I tried to hide my guilt and the empty lines on my paper. He didn't say anything else, just turned back to his sheet. I decided I'd better get on with mine.

After a couple of minutes, I came to a question I didn't know the answer to.

"Sir, how big is it?"

"Pardon?"

"The ship."

"Oh." He blushed slightly. I rolled my eyes. "Um… I don't think I know for certain…" He trailed off and looked at me, but I didn't know, so I just shrugged. "Um…" He repeated, leaning back a little in his chair as he did so.

"We can't exactly go out and measure it, can we? How do they expect us to know?" I said, getting frustrated. I know it's only a tiny detail, but if you have nothing else to do you get frustrated at the tiniest things. Trust me.

"Oh, I don't know." The Captain didn't seem to be getting as annoyed as I was. "Shall we just call it a day? I've had enough of these bloody questions and I haven't had a chance to go out yet."

I was surprised at this laid back demeanour. "Um… well, okay then, but trust me, I've already been out there and if you're not blonde it's awkward as hell."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about that. Most of them know we're here, anyway, you won't get any more than a funny look and that won't hurt you." He grabbed his coat from where it was hanging on the door, the paperwork now fully abandoned. "So, did you see anywhere particularly nice this morning that you want to go and see again?" I'd taken the hint and was now putting my boots back on.

"Not really, just went down this kind of… market street. It was really busy and noisy, though…" I trailed off, the small talk-ish-ness of this conversation getting a little surreal, especially as I was having it with someone I didn't know that well, and even more so because he was my Captain. Figures of authority and casual conversations don't mix.

"Well, we don't have to go there if you don't want to. I fancy a drink actually, how about you?" He was holding the door open now, and I joined him to walk through. We started down the corridor, falling in step with each other.

"Um… yeah-"

"I know a lovely little place just round the corner from here, actually. Might as well go there."

"Yeah, might as… well…" I raised an eyebrow at him, but he wasn't looking at me. Maybe that was just as well- this was getting weirder and weirder.

We got to the doors leading to the stairs without another word. I dearly wanted to say something, to break the tension, but I wasn't sure what. In the end I just decided to say the first thing that came into my head. Turns out, that method actually works well sometimes, because I ended up asking a question that hadn't been answered yet, a question that the Captain had previously just brushed off, changing the subject.

"Y'know this place you know?"

"Mmm?" He still hadn't looked at me, but I pushed on.

"How do you know it's there, if you haven't had a chance to go out yet?"

"Well, like I said, I've been here before."

_Aha!_

But before I could add to that, he smirked and turned to actually look at me. "There's no point asking me when and how, because I'm not going to tell you."

_Damn you, reading my mind…_

His smile just got wider as he looked away again. But I wasn't leaving it there.

"Why, though? Why can't you tell me?"

"Because if I do…" He paused, his expression now fully serious, and I was right on the edge of my metaphorical seat. "You will spontaneously combust with the weight of a secret so intense." The grin was back, and I frowned.

"Sarcasm doesn't suit you." I decided to get back at him with an insult.

"Does it not? I thought it was my greatest talent." He raised an eyebrow at me. I glared back at him.

By this time we'd reached the entrance hall of the hotel. As we stepped outside we both had to shield our eyes.

"Woah, I swear it wasn't this sunny this morning!" I commented, but there was no-one there to hear it. I turned full circle, looking for the Captain, but he was nowhere to be seen. I felt tremendously stupid, seeing as two gorgeous blonde natives had just walked past me, wondering why the hell I was talking to myself. A couple of seconds later the Captain reappeared, minus his coat.

"It's a bit warm for a coat, don't you think? Just thought I'd nip back in to put it away." He said, and started walking. I had no choice but to keep up with him; we were going in the opposite direction from yesterday and I could very easily get lost without him.

"You mean to say that you just legged it up and down _seven_ flights of stairs just to put your coat back? In about five seconds?" I squinted up at him, which I'm sure was not an attractive look. But who could blame me, the blue sunlight was too intense not to squint.

"Yep." He said, quite casually.

I looked ahead of me in disbelief. "Bloody hell, first he can mind-read, now he's super fast…" I said to myself.

"I left it behind the desk in reception." He said, very quietly and very quickly. But I heard.

"You are kidding me."

"No. You're very gullible." He was trying to conceal a smile.

I wanted to go into a rant about the fact that he'd given me plenty of reasons to think he had super-powers, what with the mind-reading and energy-giving-back thing, but instead I just huffed and glared at the floor. Inside I was kicking myself for ever coming on this walk with him. All he was doing was _getting on my nerves._

"You're perfectly allowed to turn back, if you want to." He said, as if he could read my mind.

_Wait- he can._

"Oh." I said, blushing slightly at the fact that he'd picked up on my discomfort. "Um… I don't think I'd be able to find my way back from here, anyway…"

"Stop being polite. It's just around that corner back there; you know that as well as I do. You don't have to stay." He still wasn't looking at me, though, and I had a feeling he'd be disappointed if I went.

"I'll sta-"

The word was on my lips, but fate had arrived in the form of Thomas Kirk, and I couldn't finish my sentence.

He was absolutely _dripping_ wet.

"What the _hell_ have you been _doing_, Tom?"

"We found a river." He gave me a very toothy grin, and said no more, as if that explained everything. Which… it kind of did.

"Oh god… who's we?"

"Me, Chris, Kells, a few others... you've got to get in, it's gorgeous!"

I was still dumbfounded at the absolute state Tom was in, so all I could say was a simple, breathless "Okay…"

As soon as he had my permission, Tom grabbed my arm with a slimy, wet hand and dragged me down the road after him.

It was only after we'd turned a corner that I remembered the Captain- Tom had completely distracted me beforehand and I hadn't said goodbye. So I shouted the word out as loud as I could, hoping he'd hear, but that then sent Tom into a fit of giggles.

"Why'd you do that?" He said once he'd calmed down a bit

"Well we kind of just left the Captain there on his own…" I replied, starting to feel a little guilty.

"Oh yeah!" Tom replied, which just sent him into another laughing fit. "Aww, you're not feeling _sorry_ for him, are you? Told you you liked him!" He winked.

"No, I am _not_ feeling sorry for him, _ac-tu-a-lly_." I dragged the word out into its four separate syllables, feeling much more childish now I was with Tom and not with the Captain. It was a happier feeling. "When you turned up he'd just said it was okay for me to turn back if I wanted, so he won't mind." We'd now reached the edge of what looked like a wood, not dense enough to be a forest but enough trees and strange, alien plants to make it darker underneath. The road had turned into a gravel path.

"Ah, fair enough. What were you doing with him, anyway?"

"Going for a… walk." I decided against saying 'drink', as Tom would immediately latch on to the fact that it-

"Sounds like a _date_. Was he taking you out, Jessy?" He was ahead of me now, walking backwards with a _huge_ grin plastered on his face.

"_No!_ For the _last_ time, Tom, I- we- he- it's nothing, okay? It was bloody awkward, and that's all there is to it." I sighed, my bubbly excitement from before fading away. But then I caught sight of the river. It was _gorgeous_, there was no other word to describe it. The blue light filtering in from the yellow-leaved trees just made the water look even purer, and all the weird plants surrounding it made the whole area quite beautiful. I could see Chris, Kelly and a few others sitting on the edge of the bank, obviously trying to dry out a bit.

"I don't believe you…" Tom said in a sing-song voice, bringing me back to the real world. He was still walking backwards, and I had an idea.

"Well you should!" I kept on walking towards him, and he kept on going backwards, getting closer and closer to the river.

"Well I don't!" He was still grinning, but he wouldn't be for long. I couldn't keep a grin off of my own face as I upped my pace a little.

"Tom, I'm not lying…" I was just making time, waiting for him to get close enough to…

"Hey Tom, Jess! We were thinking there's not much point going back in 'cos it'll take too long for us to dry out-" But Kelly was interrupted by an almighty _splash_ as my plan worked Tom fell backwards into the river. Needless to say it was stupidly funny, and we were all laughing all the way back to the hotel, Tom looking absolutely miserable.


	14. Bliss: 14

I made my way up the stairs with Chris Tom and Kelly, all of us still giggling about Tom's 'accident' as it was now called.

"I wish you wouldn't call it that, it sounds like I'd wet myself or something!" He complained, now sheepishly smiling as the hilarity of the event had taken over his embarrassment.

"Well you did… in a sense…" Chris replied, clapping him on the back.

"Seeya then Kells, Jess…" Tom said- they'd got to their room. Kelly swiftly kissed her husband on the cheek and carried on up the stairs and Tom went into his room, muttering about needing a 'nice warm shower', but Chris asked me to wait a second.

He looked a little shifty. "Um… Jess… Tom said he saw you and the Captain earlier-"

"It was nothing, Chris." I assured him, sick of all the hints that the Captain and I were an item. No way was that going to happen, not in a million years.

"Just wanted to make sure… I know we joke about it and shit, but… I don't want you with him. I don't trust him."

"Woah, Chris, seriously. It's okay, I don't like him like that. I promise you."

"You've just been getting a bit close recently, closer than your official relationship as Captain and crew member might allow, and-"

"Bro, nothing's going to happen, alright? You can trust me, yeah?" I could see in his eyes that he'd accepted my promise, and I smiled.

"Alright then. See you tomorrow, sis." He smiled and went into his room, shutting the door. It was getting quite late now, the shadows growing longer, and as I went up the final set of stairs I reflected that all I wanted to do now was sleep.

But as I neared the seventh floor of the hotel, I could hear raised voices. My footsteps slowed as I listened in. I couldn't help it- who doesn't eavesdrop at some point in their lives?

"With all due respect, _sir_, I think it'd be better for me to stay here."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because lately you've been getting a little too… _close_ to-"

"Now come on, do you really think that's why I want you to move?"

"Well, you never know, I'm just glad you're not _sharing_ any mo-"

"I won't have this-"

"Well tell me what the _real _reason is, then!"

"I… it's… it's the baby. Too noisy."

"You have the _cheek_- oh, um… hi, Jess!" I'd edged further up the corridor, and they'd seen me. Kelly smiled. The Captain looked furious. I think Kelly had probably looked the same, two seconds ago.

"What's going on?" I looked between the two of them, from Kelly's waning smile to the Captain's glare, and wondered what on Earth they could've been arguing about to induce this kind of reaction.

"You have your own room," The Captain said.

"You have a new room," Kelly said, at the same time. They glanced at each other in the pause that followed this, and the tension rose even higher. They both seemed to want to say something, but without me figuring out what was actually going on. In the end, Kelly spoke first.

"Look, um… the owners of the hotel have unlocked another room for us, so you can move into it, y'know; have your own space…" She glanced at the Captain again. "I've packed your stuff, if you don't mind, and… well, it's that room just down there." She smiled nervously, and I tentatively smiled back.

"Ok, thanks, Kells, I'll just… get my stuff, then…" I said. The Captain was stood in front of the door that I wanted to go through, so I uttered a very quiet "S'cuse me…" as I approached him. He was still absolutely seething, so I didn't look him in the eye. I quickly went in to get my bags and took a deep breath before having to enter that horrible atmosphere again.

When I came back out through the door I interrupted what appeared to be a very dangerous staring match going on between Kelly and the Captain. Neither of them had moved from where they were before. I cleared my throat and they both looked away from each other. The Captain pursed his lips. Kelly put a protective (and very unnecessary) arm around my shoulders.

"Ok, you're just along h-"

"I do have a very valid reason, you know." The Captain spoke from behind us, but Kelly ignored him and kept guiding me down the corridor. I tried to look back but her arm around my shoulders restricted me. After a couple of seconds I heard the unmistakeable sound of a door being very purposefully closed and locked.

Once we were in my new room, I dumped my bags on the floor and sat on the bed, blowing out through my mouth as I did so to try and relieve some of the tension that had crept into my body.

"Okay Kells, you're going to tell me what the _hell_ that was all about." I said as she stood in the doorway.

"It was just a disagreement."

"About _what?_"

"Your new room."

"But-"

"Look Jess, just be grateful you don't have to share any more. Especially with _him_." She muttered the last part to herself.

"But Kells-" I called, but I was too late- she'd already shut the door behind her. "Bloody hell…" I muttered as I began to unpack.

-.-

**Tuesday**

The next day, bleary eyed, I trundled downstairs in search of some breakfast. I hadn't eaten any the previous morning and it hadn't done me any good for the rest of the day, so I decided that I'd find somewhere or something to eat today. On the way down I spotted Chris and Kelly, taking the baby out.

"Hey guys," I joined them as we stepped out into the blue sunshine, which was considerably less bright than yesterday.

"Oh, hi Jess! Was it nice, having a room all to yourself?" Kelly asked, seemingly having forgotten the stand-off between her and the Captain last night.

"Oh, yeah, it was. Actually, it was a bit colder than the other room- but that's probably got something to do with the fact that it's over the other side of the corridor." I said, hoping that someone would change the subject soon.

"We were just out looking for somewhere to eat actually, can't be doing with hotel food," said Chris, granting my wish. Good old Chris.

"Oh, great! I'm starving. Do you know where you're going?"

"Erm, no, actually… do you know anywhere we could start looking?" Kelly asked, adjusting the straps on the baby carrier.

"Er… oh, hang on, I have an idea! The Captain and I came down this way yesterday, he said he knew somewhere we could get a drink, so you never know, they might have food there as well," I said, peering around the corner to make sure I was going the right way. It looked familiar, so I carried on, ignoring Chris and Kelly's glance at each other at my mention of 'the Captain and I'.

"Sounds good…" Chris said to fill the silence, but he said it maybe a little later than he should've. I sighed, trying to release the tension.

Eventually we came to the spot where Tom had dragged me off to the river, and I realised I had no idea where to go from there. I turned around to inform Chris and Kelly of this, but they were both heading off in a different direction.

"Um… guys?"

"We think we've found the place, Jess!" Kelly called, and I rushed over to find them stood in front of a quaint little restaurant, with a few stools outside and large umbrellas to shade the few Laths that were already sitting there, having breakfast. The only strange thing about the café was that, like all the other buildings seemed to be in this area of the planet, it was amazingly tall. At least six storeys of restaurant could be seen, with a sturdy balcony protruding from each level, a matching pattern of stools and umbrellas laid out on each balcony. It was as if someone had copy-and-pasted the ground floor six times, and by the identical nature of each floor, I wouldn't have been surprised if there was another matching level sitting underground.

"Quite something, isn't it?" Chris had the same expression on his face as I did- awe. He shook his head, smiled, and entered the restaurant. I quickly followed, not wanting to gape like an idiot.

We had a very enjoyable breakfast- utterly delicious- but I couldn't tell you what the hell it was. Some kind of weird purple fruit and something that smelt like coffee but tasted like strawberries… it was all very nice, but of course, very alien.


	15. Bliss: 15

As we finished our last mouthfuls (we were sitting outside on the first floor balcony, given the lovely weather), we heard a shout from below.

"_There_ you are! I've been looking everywhere!" Tom was stood below us, shading his eyes as he looked up. "You done yet? I want to go down to the river again!"

"Yeah Tom, we'll be one second, just wait… quietly…" Chris muttered the last word, taking note of how many of the natives were staring at us. As if they didn't have reason enough already with our dark hair, now Tom had gone and made a scene.

We finally got downstairs after paying with our universally recognised currency card- a useful little gadget; you can pay for anything wherever you go, as long as the planet will let you use it. But of course, you have a limited budget. Well come on, not everything's perfect in the future.

"Coming to the river? I've brought everyone a change of clothes this time…" Tom was bouncing around like a small dog, but he paused long enough to hold up several piles of clothes. "Let's go!"

"I swear he still hasn't grown up…" Kelly smiled as he ran off down the path. She and Chris had to be a little slower, because of the baby, but to tell the truth I was just as itching to get in the water as Tom; I hadn't been in yet and it promised a refreshing break from the heat of the day. I made my way through the wood a little faster than Chris and Kelly, but not as fast as Tom, and when I got there I couldn't see him anywhere. I realised that he was probably hiding, but before I had time to process any further thoughts Tom jumped out from behind a red shrubby plant and pushed me headfirst into the river.

"_THOMAS KIRK YOU BASTARD!"_ I screamed once I had resurfaced.

"Aw come on Jess, I was only getting you back!" He grinned as he took a run up and splashed into the river himself.

"But-" I couldn't say any more as he reached out and shoved my head under the water, and the next ten minutes consisted purely of a splash-and-dunking fight between Tom and I whilst Chris and Kelly watched, laughing and cheering our victories, from their seats on the riverbank.

The water was absolutely freezing to start with, but after all the splashing and swimming I was a lot warmer and thoroughly worn out. Tom and I agreed to call it quits, and he volunteered to look after the baby for a while so Chris and Kelly could get in.

Tom was now fully occupied with the baby, and I didn't want to interrupt Chris and Kelly in one of the few precious moments they'd get alone together, so I decided to explore. I swam further down the river, until I was out of sight form the others. It was so peaceful, and if I hadn't heard the music I would've climbed out and gone to sleep on the riverbank.

But as it was, a soft melody came floating down the river and it was so beautiful that I simply had to go and see what it was. To be honest with you I expected some kind of alien animal- probably a bird- that had a beautiful cry. But then the melody suddenly went on to a note that didn't quite sound right, stopped, and started again, correcting itself this time.

Animals don't do that.

My next, slightly more worried thought was that it was one of the natives having a quiet moment to themselves, and I for one didn't want to disturb them and put myself in a very awkward situation. But even though my mind wanted to turn back, my body kept on swimming towards the music, as if it was pulling me in.

I noticed this, and my next thought was that it might be some kind of kidnapper that uses music to draw people in- like that Earth story- what was it called? The Pie Piper or something like that. I got ever more worried and I eventually stopped at a meander in the river. I knew that if I turned the corner I would probably come face to face with whoever or whatever it was, and I didn't want to put myself in unnecessary danger. But then again, the music was so damn gorgeous…

_What should I do?_

"Jess, it's okay, it's just me." The music stopped and a soft voice came floating around the corner in its place- a voice I recognised. I swam leisurely around the bend and saw Captain Bellamy sitting on the riverbank, a guitar on his lap.

"Sir…"

"I must say, your thoughts became quite amusing as you got closer. Are you sure I'm not just a kidnapper in disguise?"

"Shut up." But I was smiling. "What're you doing with an Earth instrument?"

"It appeals to me. The sound, the way it's played…"

"You play very well."

"Thank you."

"Don't stop just 'cause I'm here…" I wanted to hear more, to make sure it really _was_ him producing such a beautiful sound.

"Well…"

"Sir, please? It's amazing, I promise…"

"Only if you'll stop calling me _sir_ all the time. Call me Matthew. Please." His eyes sparkled with mirth as he added the last word a little too late, almost as an afterthought.

"Well, okay…" I smiled, but then a thought struck me. "And how many other crew members have you said that to?"

He smiled- a secret smile. "You're the first."

I found myself blushing, and immediately tried to stop. He chuckled, seeing the effort in my mind.

"Are you going to keep playing or not?" I tried to draw his mind away from anything that might embarrass me further, because that was all that seemed to happen when I was with the Captain- embarrassment for me, amusement for him.

He sighed. "Alright, then." But before he started, he looked at me. Straight into my eyes. Even from that distance I was reminded sharply of how overpoweringly _blue_ they were. And then, as the beautiful melody started flowing from his fingers again, a thought hit me.

_This planet- the blueness- I _knew _it reminded me of something…_

And as the thought crossed my mind, he looked at me once more, and as I gazed into the blue orbs I knew just what that 'something' was.

0_0

"Jess! Jess, where the _hell_ are you!"

I snapped out of my reverie. The Captain stopped playing.

"Sir-"

"Matthew." His eyes twinkled.

I looked away, smiling. "Matthew… I'd better go…"

"But you don't want to?" He finished my sentence for me.

"Yeah…"

"Go on, they'll only get more worried. Maybe I could play for you another time?" I could still feel his eyes on me, and sure enough when I looked up our gaze locked.

"I'd like that." I said, and he smiled.

"Let's make it easy. Same time and same place tomorrow?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Sounds good. I'd better go." The shouts of my name were getting louder.

"Yeah."

"Thank you for playing to me, s- Matthew," I said as I climbed out of the river.

"Not at all, Jess." He said softly, and I waved back at him quickly before running to find the others.


	16. Bliss: 16

**Wednesday**

The next day I woke in my own room once again, fully refreshed. I'd decided to have a bit of an early night last night so I could be up today in time to get down to the river and hear the Captain- Matthew- play his guitar again. But as my eyes opened and I caught sight of the window I began to wonder whether it was actually going to happen or not.

The sky was a deep, deep purple, not a hint of the normal blue to be found. Silvery wisps of cloud whisked across outside my window, but in the distance I could see a humongous amount of dark grey cloud rolling in, fast.

"Looks like a storm."

"Well done…" I turned to find Chris standing in the doorway.

He smiled at my response, and shook his head. "Tom wants to go out in it."

I didn't reply, just rolled my eyes as I turned back to look out of the window. I wasn't surprised that Tom wanted to go out; storms were incredibly fun to run around in if you didn't mind getting absolutely soaked.

"I've spoken to the Captain though, and he reckons we shouldn't, not on this planet. It was something about a really thick atmosphere that traps a lot of electrical energy, so basically there's going to be a _lot_ of lightning. He said the buildings are protected, but if you were hit outside you'd be killed instantly." Chris continued. I was still looking out of the window.

"Guess you'd better tell Tom not to go out then." I sighed and turned around. Looks like I'd have nothing to do for the day.

"Yeah. Jess-" He sounded concerned. "The Captain only told me that after _I_ told _him_ that Tom wanted _you_ to go out as well. He didn't seem to care whether Tom got fried; he only mentioned the danger once you were mentioned."

I could see what he was getting at. "Look Chris, stop being paranoid. He probably only just remembered it halfway through what you were saying… it was probably just a coincidence."

But Chris still didn't want to accept that. "You haven't seen him since Monday night, have you? You _did_ promise, you know…"

"Of _course_ I haven't." I lied.

He still looked worried, but he nodded. "Alright. I'm just looking out for you… if you get bored later, come down to our room, Kelly'll be there too."

"Okay. Thanks, Chris."

He left. I sighed, looking moodily out of the window, as the first drops began to fall.

T_T

The storm lasted all day. When I started to get hungry I made my way down to Chris and Tom's room, and indeed Kelly was also there, along with their roommate David McKenzie and a few other people, including (as I noticed with disgust), Michael Johns, my fellow mechanic.

Several variations of "Hey, Jess!" were thrown at me as I entered the room, but the storm had put me in a pretty foul mood so I just nodded and jumped on Tom's bed, burying my face in his pillow.

"Oy!"

"Go away, Tom. M'not in the mood." He was trying to tickle me.

"But that's my bed!"

"I know."

He seemed to give up then. Either that or he'd been distracted by something. I suspected the latter.

Turns out I was right, as a few seconds later I discovered what the distraction was.

"Oy Jess, come and see this!" One of the girls, I think her name was Lucy, called.

I looked up and they were all gathered around the window, Tom pushing to be in front. I walked slowly over and tried to peer over the top of everyone's heads, but the window was blocked. However, a few seconds later an almighty flash filled the whole room, and as the first rumbles of thunder roared I realised what they were all looking at.

Although the rain had been pouring all day, we hadn't had any lightning or thunder yet, but the tempest seemed to have moved further towards us and we were bearing the brunt of being exceptionally close to the eye of the storm. Gradually some people moved away from the window as the thunder really began to kick in- they were searching around for something to block out the noise; a few of them were using Chris, Tom and David's bedding to cover their ears. I used this opportunity to get a good view out of the window.

It was completely black. I couldn't see a thing apart from the reflection of the room on the glass.

"Hey, turn the light out, I can't see anything because of the reflections!" I called behind me.

Someone must've heard over the diminishing rumble coming from the sky, and the room went dark. Out of the window I could see hailstones, as thick as a man's fist, hurtling down from above and exploding on the pavement below. I was surprised they weren't leaving craters.

Just as I'd begun to pick out individual windows on the building across from me, the next fork of lightning struck, right outside the window, going all the way down to hit the road. It only lasted for a split second but it was so bright that it burnt into my eyes and it was all I could see for a couple of seconds afterwards. I could almost feel the electrical energy it held, it was so strong. The closest thing I'd ever seen to its brightness and power was probably an abduction beam coming from a Sevtinian spaceship, but that's another story. The beam illuminated the whole street and lit up every individual hailstone, making them look like balls of fire. The light was reflected in all the windows down the street, making them flash back at me. I could see all the way down the road in both directions, and there was absolutely no one in sight. Well, I didn't blame them. A lightning strike like that wouldn't just kill you, it would incinerate you.

Then came the thunder. The last rumble I'd heard was from a lightning strike much further away than the one I'd just seen, so it was understandable that this one should be louder. And louder it certainly was; I swear the glass in the window was rattling.

"This is ridiculous! How are we supposed to _do_ anything in this weather?" Michael roared, but I could barely hear him over the thunder.

"Don't shout! The baby's crying!" Kelly shrieked, but I don't know why she was worrying about someone shouting when such a colossal noise was erupting from above.

"This is just stupid. I'm going to bed." I said to no one in particular, pushing my way through several people to get out of the noise and the confusion. When I had closed the door the noise level was marginally quieter; I didn't have ten people all shouting at the same time on _top_ of the thunder, but the thunder was still there.

It finally began to fade as I reached my room, and I was suddenly aware of other noises. Like a loud, piercing squeak coming from further up the corridor. I followed my ears and found myself stood outside the Captain's room. His door was open and the squeaking noise was the heavy wood swinging backwards and forwards on its hinges. I reached out for the handle, but thought better of it. It was metal, and there was a lot of electrical energy going round what with the lightning storm raging outside. I waited for the door to swing close to me, and hooked the toe of my boot under the handle. I then looked rather stupid, having to hop backwards quite unsteadily to pull the door to a close, but I succeeded in the end.

So, with the squeaking gone and the thunder holding off for a couple of minutes, I decided to get into my own room and more importantly, into my bed. As I opened the door (I took my boot off and pushed the handle down with it- I wasn't looking like an idiot again) I realised something had changed. My window was no longer there. Instead a large wooden board covered the space where it used to be, held in place by some kind of thick, white paste. I didn't dare try to remove it, because as I looked around I realised what must've happened.

I thought I'd seen the glass in Chris' room's window shaking- well, I must've been right. For covering the floor around the place where _my_ window used to be was a lot of broken glass. The floor was also very wet. I suspected the window had broken and several hailstones had got in before someone had very kindly blocked the hole up for me.


	17. Bliss: 17

**Thursday**

The next day I woke with a raging headache, feeling quite miserable. But the thundering sound of the rain had stopped, so that was a good thing. I sleepily got up to look out of the window, but I was halfway across the room before I managed to fully open my eyes and remember that I no longer had a window. I made a "hmph!" noise of disapproval and set about getting dressed.

I took my time going downstairs, as moving too quickly would set my head spinning again. That thunder from last night hadn't done me any good.

"Jess! Jess! Have you _seen_ it?" Tom suddenly came bounding down the stairs and grabbed me around the shoulders, almost toppling us both over. I stopped moving and turned around to face him. He had the same look on his face as when he'd wanted to show me the river.

_Oh god…_

"Seen what? Tom, seriously, how can you _not_ have a headache?" I massaged my temples, leaning against the wall.

"I _did_ have a headache, but I don't any more! Not since I _saw it_…" He said the last part very mysteriously and with an air of authority. He knew something I didn't, and he loved it.

"Saw _what?_" I persisted.

"Come and see!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the stairs, full speed.

"Come and see _WHAT,_ Tom?" But he didn't answer, and as he pulled me into the reception area of the hotel I realised he didn't need to.

The world had gone bright blue.

"The thunderstorm and stuff finished, and then- and then there was this like _massive_ blizzard and _everything's_ covered in SNOW! But it's weird, it looks blue 'cos of the atmosphere, but who cares, it's still snow!" He was grinning so hard I was surprised his face hadn't fallen off. But I couldn't blame him; I hadn't seen snow in such a long time, and my face also split into a grin.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" I said, my headache now mysteriously gone.

"Huh?"

"Race you!" I ran to the doors, intending to burst out and fall into the snow, but instead I just crashed and bounced back on to my bum on the cold, hard floor of the reception. Tom was in stitches as I picked myself up and walked back to him, red as a tomato and livid. "You could've told me we were snowed in!"

"I didn't know!" He said between gasping breaths.

I huffed, and looked around for a second. We couldn't encounter snow like this and _not_ go out in it…

"Tom! I have an idea!"

"What?"

"Well, if the snow's high enough to block that door off, we could jump out one of the first floor windows on to it! It shouldn't be too much of a drop…" I tried to measure the height of the snow up the door but it went higher than I could see.

"Jess, you're a genius." Tom said, sincerely.

"Oh, I know…" I said, putting my hand on my heart. We both stood there looking at each other for a couple of seconds until some kind of silent agreement was made between us and we both set off at the same time, running full speed up the stairs to the first floor.

M_W

"You go first."

"No! It was your idea!"

"But you got here first so you should go first."

"That's ridiculous."

"Come on Tom, you know you want to…" I could see he was on the very edge of saying yes to jumping out of the window into the snow before me, but he just needed a little more persuading. "I'll be there right after you, promise."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

"Well… okay then, give me a count down." He crouched on the ledge, looking apprehensively yet eagerly out onto the thick light blue blanket beneath us.

"3… 2… 1… Go!" I shouted, and he went for it. I watched him fall about five metres before landing in the snow and making an exact imprint of his body as he sank down- an almost perfect rendition of when that kind of thing happens in one of those Earth cartoons.

I giggled as his head poked out of the human-shaped hole he'd made. "Woah, it's really deep! Like _really _deep!" He said, shivering, so the words went all wobbly.

"Yeah, I got that…" I indicated the hole he'd made.

"Aren't you coming then?" He began to climb on to the surface of the snow but kept sinking in.

"Yeah! Get out of the way…"

"I'm trying…" He was struggling with the effort not to sink, and I laughed as I watched him. When he was nearly out of the way I climbed on to the windowsill, ready to jump.

"What on Earth are you doing?" A voice said from behind me, and I almost fell with surprise. I carefully gripped the sides of the window tightly and turned my head.

"Oh, it's you."

"Hello to you too…" The Captain said, a disbelieving smirk on his face. "Please don't tell me you're going to jump."

"Why not? Tom already has, it looks fun! You should do it." I said, grinning.

He raised an eyebrow. "It's not really my thing." I giggled, and it made him smile. "But if _you_ want to, I suppose that's your choice." He shook his head slightly and turned to leave the room.

"Wait- where're you going?"

"Hmm?" His head came back into view. "Oh, I need to go out, some members of the crew are missing- I think they may have had the same idea as you two and got lost in the snow. I only hope they weren't out last night… You be careful, stay outside the hotel. I don't want _you_ getting lost too." A concerned look came over his face.

"Matthew, it's only snow. We'll be fine." The mention of his name softened his expression a little, and the corner of his mouth turned up slightly.

"Alright then. Have fun."

"Jess! What're you waiting for? I'm out of the way now!" Tom called from below.

Matthew rolled his eyes and shook his head at Tom's voice before turning to leave. I stuck my tongue out at him but I don't think he saw.

"Coming, Tom!"

"Try not to go in the same bit as me- you'll go even deeper and you might hit the floor!" He called up.

"Okay…" I planned on launching myself to the left of Tom's original landing point; he was on the right-hand side and I didn't want to land on him.

"3… 2… 1!" He called, and I grinned as I pushed off.


	18. Bliss: 18

About an hour later we were thoroughly soaked, cold and worn out. We decided to move along the road and find somewhere sheltered that wouldn't have any snow, so we could dry off and warm up. Even though we'd had that terrible storm yesterday, the skies were back to their dazzling blue and the sun was shining, as hot as ever. The only reason the snow hadn't all melted was that there was so much of it; I dread to think how thick it had been in the blizzard last night before the hot sun had come out…

We eventually found a little lane lined with several doorways that only had a thin layer of snow on top of the path. We soon scraped it away but decided to let the ground warm up a bit before lying down.

"What a snowball fight, eh?" Tom said, leaning against a fence and closing his eyes, face up to the sun.

"Yeah. What a victory." I said airily, reminding him of the fact that-

"You did _not_ win!"

"I so did! Tom, you were completely out of it after I got you in the face _three_ times! _And_ I threw the last snowball before we both decided to stop!" I raised my voice slightly, rising to his challenge.

"Yeah, but you didn't aim that one at me, it hit one of the windows of the hotel!"

"Yeah, but-"

"Are you two dears alright? Squabbling away, I could hear you from inside!" A frail voice spoke. Tom and I turned to find an old native Lath standing in a doorway.

"Erm, yeah, we're fine… sorry to disturb you…" I said, stammering a little as I hadn't yet actually talked to a Lath, and I was surprised that this woman could speak our language so fluently.

"Oh, it's no bother. I assume you've been out in the snow?" She said, eyeing up our wet clothes.

"Um… yeah…" Tom grinned, looking a bit guilty under her scrutiny.

"Why don't you come inside and warm up? I'll fix you a drink." She said, smiling and turning around, walking back inside what I supposed was her house.

"Um, it's alright, we'll just-"

"No, no, I insist!" She called from inside, and we couldn't just walk off and leave, it would be rude and we didn't want to make a bad impression on the first native we'd actually talked to. Tom and I glanced at each other. He shrugged, and held out his hand as if to say 'after you'… I rolled my eyes and stepped inside, hoping that I looked more confident than I felt.

"Now, if you'll just come upstairs…" I couldn't see the old lady anywhere but I heard her voice from through a little passageway; I assumed that was where the stairs were and I was right. A quick glance told me that Tom was following as I started up the steps.

The room at the top of the stairs was exceptionally plain. It only had one window, which I noticed was facing out onto the lane we'd just been standing on. The walls were completely bare, no photos or ornaments or even colour. They were the same shade as the stone they were made from- no attempt had been made to cover the bare materials. A single table stood in the centre of the room, with four chairs on each side. The table too was very plain; a simple design made of a reddish wood, with no designs carved into it. The wall opposite the window had a counter mounted on it, and this was where the lady was standing, preparing our drinks. I took the room to be a kitchen, seeing as she had come up here to prepare us a beverage, but I couldn't see any kind of oven or cooker or anything that could be used to prepare food.

She turned around, holding two mugs.

"If you take the chairs and go and sit by the window, it's nice and warm there where the sun can get in." We did as she said, and she followed us over, handing us the mugs once we were sitting. She was right- it was exceptionally hot in the blue sunlight coming through the window, and I could almost feel the water evaporating from my clothes.

The drink was delicious. It tasted almost of kiwi fruit, but with a touch of coconut. The steam coming from it smelt delicious.

"What kind of drink is this?" I asked the woman as she drew up her own chair.

"Oh, it's called Medan. I invented it."

"It's delicious." I smiled.

"Thank you."

The room then lapsed into silence. Tom looked extremely uncomfortable and I was verging on feeling the same. I wished someone would speak, but I didn't want to be the one to start the conversation.

"So… you two are from the human crew." The woman said.

"Yep." Tom replied, not looking at her. He was staring straight out of the window.

"Who's your Captain now?" She asked.

I looked at her curiously. The way she worded the question was interesting.

"Why, has the ship been here before?" I enquired.

"Oh yes, many years ago. I was wondering if you still had the same Captain. He was very nice, that last one, very nice indeed… but he went- ah- _missing,_ and your ship left with a different Captain, Bellamy, I think his name was."

"Yeah, we've still got him." Tom said, sounding disgusted.

"No, it can't be Matthew; he's only been in command for four and a half weeks. It must've been Paul." I told him, unhappy about his tone of voice.

"Yes, that was the one. Paul Bellamy. But who do you have now? Matthew?" The woman leant forwards in her chair slightly as she waited for an answer.

"Yes, Paul's younger brother. Paul… died, not too long ago, and Matthew took command." I answered, seeing as Tom didn't want to talk any more.

"Hmm, yes. Well… is he any good?"

"He's…" I stopped myself. I didn't want to mix up the quality of his leadership with the quality of his personality. Or his… looks.

"Crap." Tom finished for me.

"What does that mean?" The lady asked.

"Oh, it's an Earth swear word," Tom said lightly, "it means _rubbish_."

"He's not that bad!" I butted in.

"He is, he keeps coming on to you!" It sounded like Tom had wanted to say that for a long time.

I paused with shock that he'd just said that in front of someone we barely knew. "No he doesn't! And even if he did, that's got nothing to do with how good a Captain he is!" I retorted.

"It has! It shows he can't deal with… distractions." Tom went red and seemed to back off a bit as he said the last word.

"Tom-"

"And you're falling for it." He lowered his voice and looked at me with concern instead of anger.

I couldn't think to anything to say back, because I wasn't sure if he was right or wrong. And it worried me.

"He's right, you know. " The woman said. I'd forgotten she was there. "The Bellamys were never any good, dear. You don't want to get involved with them."

"How do you know that?" I said, but I wasn't sure why I was still defending Matthew, so I sounded a little hesitant.

"Trust me," was all she said in reply.

I wanted to say something back, something about her not even knowing them, but I thought it would be best to leave it. I stared down at my empty mug.

"I'm finished now. You, Jess?" Tom said lightly, contrasting with the heavy mood.

"Yeah." I looked up at him. "D'you want to…"

"Yeah. Thanks for… y'know, the drinks and stuff…" He said to the woman, giving her our two mugs along with a smile.

"Oh, it's alright, son." She got up to put the mugs on the counter over the other side of the room. Tom and I replaced the chairs before going over to the stairway.

"Um… bye…" I said, and she turned round.

"Goodbye. You two be careful, now." She smiled and turned back around.

Neither Tom nor I could think of anything to say back to such a strange farewell, so we made our way down the stairs and through the room on the ground floor to the door which led outside.

"Well done, Jess." Tom said once we were there.

"What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Let's get back to the hotel."

"Okay…" I replied. I'd expected a lecture on 'Who's side are you on, the Captain's or mine?', but there was nothing, so we started walking in silence.

"Oh, wait a minute!" A voice called from behind us. We looked back to see the old lady's head poking out of the window that we'd been sat by just a minute ago, on the first floor of her house. "You've left something in here, my dear!"

"Me?" Tom asked, and she nodded.

"Would you mind terribly coming back up to get it, only I don't think I can manage all those stairs again…" She called.

"Um… yeah, okay…" He said, starting off towards the door. I instinctively followed him.

"Oh, I only think it needs one of you, don't you agree?" She said, and we stopped.

"Um, yeah, ok… Jess, just wait here, it'll make her happy," Tom muttered the last part to me before stepping inside the doorway. I leant against the wall, sighing.

"Good, good; it's just up here…" The lady's head disappeared from the window.

I heard Tom's footsteps slowly diminishing, and then all I could do was wait.

Two minutes later, I still hadn't heard anything from inside the house. It didn't take this long just to go up one flight of stairs and get something. However, I decided to wait a couple more minutes- Tom might be talking to her about something and I didn't want to interrupt, especially as it was likely to be about me and the Captain after the conversation we'd just had.

When it got to five minutes, though, I was getting worried. Certain scenarios were running through my head, none of them pleasant, about what could have happened to Tom. I decided to call out to him; the window was still open and he was likely to hear.

"TOM! What're you doing up there?"

No reply. I shouted his name again, gave it another thirty seconds, then grit my teeth and marched in through the door. I raced up the stairs, still calling Tom's name every now and then. When I got to the room at the top my first thought was that the old lady was nowhere to be seen. She definitely hadn't been downstairs, unless she'd gone into one of the adjoining rooms down there. My second thought was about the body lying underneath the window.

"_Tom…_"


	19. Bliss: 19

I knelt beside him, and turned him onto his back. His eyes were closed. "What the hell's she done?" I muttered, listening for a heartbeat. He had one, but it was very faint. I kept murmuring his name and shaking him gently, and eventually I was rewarded with a weak groan as his eyes fluttered open.

"Jess…"

"What happened?"

"Jess…" His eyes closed again. I made a noise of frustration and looked around the room, as if some kind of inspiration would come to me from such blank walls.

"Tom, please wake up, I can't leave you here to go and get help 'cos she might come back…" I said, and it then dawned on me that even if I did stay here, she could still come back anyway, and would probably hurt me as well. I needed to get out of here, Tom with me. I stood up and leaned out of the window, as far as I could go. I could just about see the main road, still covered in snow, and as I watched a snowball flew past the entrance to the lane. Someone was out there.

I shouted with all my might, praying that_ someone_ would hear me. I was just about to give up when _finally_ someone's head poked round the corner, and to my great relief, they had dark hair. It was a member of the crew.

"Help me, please! We need to get out of here!"

"What is it?" They ran to stand underneath the window. I didn't recognise them as someoneI knew well, but it didn't matter.

"Go through the open door at the bottom there, and come up the stairs. I need you to help me carry someone."

They didn't wait to reply, but came running straight up. I sincerely hoped the old woman wasn't waiting for them in one of the downstairs rooms, but it seemed I was in luck as the footsteps grew louder and he ran into the room.

"What's happened?" He looked from me to Tom, shock all over his face at Tom's unconscious state.

"He… got attacked by this woman… a native… I don't know how though, I was down there, but then he didn't come back so I came up to check and… well…" I half pointed to Tom.

"Ok… well if you grab his arms…" He took hold of Tom's legs as I hooked my arms under Tom's armpits. We steadily carried him down the stairs and outside, into the sun.

As we were halfway along the path, Tom started to wake up again.

"Mate, you think you can walk?" The man holding Tom's legs inquired, but Tom just weakly shook his head.

_God, he looks like I must've done that time Dom stared at me in the ship's canteen…_

When we turned out onto the main road, about five people from _Bliss'_ crew were out in the snow. When they spotted our strange procession they rushed over to help.

"Thanks…" I said as someone took over my job of holding Tom's upper body. I noticed the snow was much shallower now than it was before; the sun had certainly done its job and there were plenty of puddles around. When we got to the hotel doors I noticed someone had dug away the snow covering them- the levels further away would've only gone halfway up the glass so it wouldn't have been that difficult.

"What floor's he on?" One of the guys who was carrying Tom asked.

"Um… sixth…" I replied apologetically, and they all groaned.

"Tell you what, put him in my room. I'm only one flight up." Isabel Barter suggested, and everyone seemed keener on that idea as we reached the stairs.

I, however, had other plans, and when we got to the first floor I spoke to Isabel. "Give him some chocolate, or something sugary. If he mentions me, say I'll be there soon. What room number are you?"

"Room 005." She replied, and I thanked her. She was looking at me curiously, but I wasn't going to explain.

I had to see the Captain. If Tom was in the same state as I had been when Dom had attacked me on _Bliss_, then Matthew would be able to help him, like he'd helped me. It was a slim chance that Tom actually _did_ have the same condition as I had had, but it was worth it.

I expected Matthew to be in his room, but when I reached the third floor I stopped, as angry voices floated through the double doors into the stairwell. I tentatively pushed them open to find the man I was looking for stood in the middle of the corridor, surrounded by crew members who were shouting angrily at him.

"Where is she?"

"Have you even been looking?"

"David's been gone since Tuesday and you haven't even bothered-"

"Look!" The Captain interrupted them. "I have been doing _everything I can_. You forget that we're on an entire planet here, not just one village. They could be anywhere! I've searched the area surrounding the hotel and I can't find them. I think they've probably gone out somewhere too far away to find their way back-"

"Well how are we ever going to see them again?" One of the women cried.

"Julia, please listen. They all have a degree of common sense, and they've all visited planets before, am I right?" There was a general nodding of heads as Matthew asked the question. "So what they'll do is ask one of the natives how to get back to this area, and they'll turn up soon enough. Now if you excuse me, I need to-" He made to get out from the crowd, but the woman named Julia stood in his way.

"What, so you're not going to bother looking for them any more? Just hope that they'll 'turn up?' " She looked furious.

"My dear woman, there is nothing else I can do." Matthew sounded very tired and frustrated. I felt sorry for him. But as soon as he said the words, the whole crowd began shouting at him again. Miraculously, he managed to break through them and began hurrying down the corridor towards the stairs, where I was stood.

"Sir-" I asked as he came closer, but he interrupted.

"Not now, Jess." He walked straight past me and up the stairs. He didn't even look at me. I followed him.

"But sir, Tom's been attacked, and-"

"I'm busy, Jess." He still didn't look around, just carried on up the stairs, slightly faster than before, but I wasn't giving up.

"I told them to give him some chocolate because that's what you gave me when Dom attacked me on the ship, and I think the same thing's happened to Tom, but I was wondering…" This was the bit I was nervous about asking. "W-wondering if you could come and… you know, g-give him some energy back…" I trailed off. He stopped climbing the stairs, and actually turned around and looked at me.

He paused for a second, an apologetic look on his face. "I… I can't."

I frowned. "Why? You've _got_ to help him, I-"

"I'm _busy_." He said, the apology gone from his face, replaced with frustration. He turned around and began to walk up the stairs again.

"But sir… Matthew…"

"JESS! _Please!_" He'd turned around again, but this time he was angry. I couldn't say anything whilst faced with the fire in his eyes, so I just stood there, dumbstruck. Eventually he looked away, clenching his jaw. I thought he was going to say something else, but in the end he turned around once more and eventually disappeared as the stairs took him higher and out of sight. I stood and listened to his footsteps for a while, my mind reeling.

_Busy with _what?

_How can he be so nice to me one minute and so horrid the next?_

_Why? Why doesn't he want to help Tom?_

I lingered on that last thought. He may be _busy_, but was he really too busy to make Tom well again? For all I knew, Tom could be down there slowly wasting away from whatever the old Lath had done to him, and Matthew couldn't be bothered to help? And then there was the other issue – did the Captain have something _against_ Tom? Would he use his powers if it was a _different_ crew member? My mind flew back to my conversation with Tom and the old Lath, where Tom had accused me of falling for the Captain's advances. I had maintained the fact that there had been _no_ advances, but now I thought this over I wasn't so sure. When I had seen Matthew down by the river, playing his guitar, he had definitely _not_ spoken to me as my Captain. But then, I hadn't spoken to him like one of his crew members, either, so maybe I was partially to blame. But all this lead back to the one thought running circles around my mind.

_Is the Captain _jealous_ of all the time I'm spending with Tom? Is that why he won't make him better, because he thinks he'll have better chances with me if Tom's not feeling up to doing anything?_

I shook my head, trying to banish all these thoughts, and as I finally started to descend the staircase I focused my mind on making Tom better. If the Captain wouldn't do it for whatever reason, there was nothing to stop me having a go. I wondered if they'd found any chocolate for him yet as I walked down the first floor corridor, looking for room number 005. I found it eventually; it wasn't too far from the staircase.

I opened the door to find Tom lying on the floor, wrapped in a bundle of sheets. Isabel was there, but she was the only one.

"Hiya, all the others buggered off to go and play in the snow." She said as I entered. "I didn't want to put him on a bed though, because he's still a bit damp from the snow, so I used all the spare sheets from the wardrobe. He ate some chocolate-y biscuit things and passed out again, and since then I've just kind of been sat here…" She looked longingly out of her window at the others playing in the snow. I realised with a jolt that this was the window Tom and I had been jumping out of earliert hat morning.

"You can go out if you want to." I smiled at her, and she grinned. "I'll look after him, you've done loads." I eyed the large supply of sugary foods lying around the room.

"Thanks Jess. I hope he's okay…" She got up and reached for her coat, which she put on.

"Yeah, me too." I said as she walked out and closed the door. "Right." I looked down at Tom. He was still out of it, so I started to gather some of the food up into a small pile next to where he lay, before sitting down next to him. I shook him a little to try and wake him again, but he didn't seem to want to. I sighed. I wish Isabel had stayed, it was a bit boring sitting here with only an unconscious person for company. I entertained myself by watching a rather ferocious snowball fight out of the window, but then I heard Tom's weak voice from behind me.

"Jess, you're here."

"Yeah, looks like I am, eh?" I turned around and smiled at him. "Eat some more sugar, Tom, you'll feel better."

_I hope…_

"M'kay…" He took the piece of chocolate I offered him and it was gone in a flash. "More…" He muttered, and I gave him another chunk. I remembered the feeling of just wanting more from ages ago, back on _Bliss_, eating that bar of Galaxy. I'd thought of nothing else but needing to finish that chocolate bar, but when I had finished, I'd felt strangely empty.

Tom eventually ate the whole bar. And trust me, it was a big one. About as big as an A4 sheet of paper.

_Pig_.

"Finished yet?" I asked, amused, as he slowly sat up, chewing on the last piece.

"Yep." He swallowed, and smiled sheepishly at me. "Wow, I'm gonna get fat."

I smiled. "Hey Tom, you think you can make it upstairs now?"

"Why, where am I?"

"First floor."

"What? Five flights of stairs? Oh, I dunno Jess, you might have to carry me…" He grinned, getting to his feet. I copied him, not quite sure if I was glad or not about his returned sense of humour.

Well, after a lot of whining and groaning and sitting down and pulling and pushing, he made it, in the end.


	20. Bliss: 20

That night I decided to pay Tom another visit, to see if he was feeling any better than before, where he _still_ hadn't been up to his full strength. I wandered down to his room just as it was getting dark, but when I opened the door his was the only bed that actually had someone in it.

"Tom?" I whispered as I shut the door behind me, wondering where Chris and David were.

Tom made a sound halfway between a sigh and a moan, sounding like "it's just a load of rubbish."

"Tom." I said, a little louder, sitting down on the side of his bed.

"What?" He was definitely awake now, but the word was said very quietly.

"How are you?" I leant down and pulled back the duvet a little, and he didn't stop me.

"Not good. Can't _do_ anything. Can't even move properly." He winced as he adjusted the pillow behind his head, obviously very weak. I replaced his hand with mine, doing it for him.

I was obviously concerned about his state of health, but I didn't want to worry him about it so I chose a different topic. "Where're the others?"

"Chris snuck up to see Kells and the baby and I doubt he'll be back until morning, and David's one of the ones who've gone missing." He replied, closing his eyes. "So it's just me."

"Aww, poor Tommy…" I said, stroking his hair off his forehead. "You're boiling hot, you sure you need this duvet?"

"I dunno…" He absent-mindedly gave the duvet a weak shove, and I pulled it off him. "Jess, I think I know what's happened to everyone."

"What do you mean?" I wasn't really listening; I was wondering whether the kitchens downstairs would still be unlocked so I could sneak some more chocolate up for Tom.

"People who've disappeared- you don't think the Laths have like, done this to them?" He said, squinting up at me.

"What, you mean like… made them all weak and then... kidnapped them or something?" I said, suddenly paying attention.

"Yeah. D'you think?"

I thought for a second. "Yeah. It's more likely than them just getting lost, it's been _days_ now…"

_And even if they had got lost they'd have probably done what the Captain had said earlier and asked for directions… from the Laths… who even then could still have done this to them._

With that thought I realised how easy it would be for the natives to kidnap our crew members, and I got even more worried. "God, I hope no one _we_ know goes missing…"

"Yeah…" Tom trailed off into silence, and I had nothing more to say, so the seconds ticked on with both of us lost in our own thoughts. "Jess?" It was Tom who eventually broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Can you… c-can you stay here, please?"

"I'm not going…"

"No, I mean… for- for the night." He didn't quite meet my eyes.

"Oh, right." I understood. "Um… yeah, if you want me to…"

"I don't think this weakness thing's contagious," He said, smiling slightly. The first time I'd seen him smile since I'd entered the room.

"No, of course it won't be." I smiled back as I lay down next to him.

The silence took over again, but this time we were both very aware of each other. It wasn't awkward, just cautious.

"Jess?" Tom's voice killed the quiet once more.

"Mmm?"

"Can you like… um… hold me, please?" He said, barely more than a whisper.

I looked at him. "Tom, are you okay?"

"I don't like this, being like this…" He looked so sorry for himself that I put my arms around him. "Am I going to get better?"

"I…" I was going to say 'I don't know', but he looked so forlorn that I changed tactics. "Yes, of course you will. There's no need to worry." I'd get the Captain on it first thing in the morning whether he was busy or not.

The silence came again, but this time it was comfortable, and I soon found that Tom's steady sleep-breathing was actually quite relaxing, and if I stopped thinking about anything and just listened to him breathe I could quite easily just…

z_z

I woke with images of a meandering river surrounded by alien woodland in my mind. At first, I thought the dream hadn't ended, because the sounds were all still there. The running water, the rustling leaves in the wind, the music… but one by one they faded away until all I could see was blackness and all I could hear was Tom's breathing.

_Hang on a minute… is that… no, must still be part of my dream…_

But a second later I could've sworn the music was back, quiet as a whisper, but there.

I raised my head from the pillow to allow both ears full access to the sounds of the night, and I confirmed that some kind of melody was being played, somewhere close. I looked down at Tom, still sound asleep, and thought that I should probably be in the same state. But just like before, the music seemed to have control of my actions and before I knew it I was closing Tom's door behind me as silently as I could, and tiptoeing towards the stairs.

Of course, I knew where the beautiful melody would be coming from, but as I neared the Captain's door I paused. I didn't want to interrupt him, because last time when I had done so he'd stopped playing. I didn't want that to happen this time, I wanted him to keep playing for ever and ever, and I could just stand here and listen, and nothing would ever go wrong again…

"You know, you're rather stupid sometimes. Hiding from me outside my door, when you know full well I can read your mind and I know you're there." The door had opened, and the music had stopped, and there stood Matthew, smirking his head off.

"…oh." I felt myself blushing and looked away, ashamed that he'd been able to see those last few thoughts that I'd had.

"Well… come in, then." He turned away and went to sit on the bed. I just stood there, feeling awkward. "Jess, come on." He smiled a nicer smile that time, and I ignored all my thoughts of 'I really should be getting back to Tom' and entered the room. "Sit down." He patted the bed beside him and I slowly made my way over, perching myself next to him. When I had settled I noticed that our thighs were touching, but I didn't want to move in case he noticed and took it offensively or something. But then I remembered he could read my mind and he'd have noticed anyway, on top of hearing everything I'd just thought about. He smiled slightly and moved his leg purposefully away from mine. I sat frozen still, tense and uneasy.

_Why am I suddenly so nervous around him? It never used to matter what he thought of me, but now I'm trying my hardest to… well, I don't really know what…_

Neither of us had said anything yet, and it seemed like the air was getting thicker every time I inhaled. I decided to break the silence. "Matthew-"

"I'm sorry." He said it at the same time as I'd said his name, and we glanced at each other before quickly looking away again. He laughed, somewhat nervously, and I felt myself blushing _again_.

But then I registered what he'd said. Or what I thought he'd said. "What?" I enquired.

"I'm sorry." He repeated.

"Why?" I looked at him, frowning.

"For earlier, on the stairs. I shouldn't have got so angry at you." He looked like he felt really guilty, and I immediately forgave him, even though I _had_ been constantly angry at him since it had happened.

"Oh, it's… it's okay." I looked away, not quite sure what to make of my willing forgiveness.

"You did the right thing, with the chocolate."

It took me a second to work out what he was talking about, but I soon saw that he meant giving Tom all those sugary foods. "That's good." I replied, still looking away. "Is there any chance you could go down and help him in the morning? Y'know, make him better?"

"I've already told you, I can't." He sighed, and I looked at him.

"But why not?" I pestered.

"I just-" He didn't seem to know what to say, but I sat and waited. I was going to get an answer. "Will you just drop it, please? I can't, and that's the end of it."

"Why, have you lost your power or something?"

"Y... something like that." He ran his hand over his face, obviously uncomfortable with all my questions, but I wasn't stopping there.

"What if _I_ get attacked?"

"Then I'll probably find I'll magically be able to do it again." He smiled at me then, and looked into my eyes with his gorgeous sapphires, and I couldn't say any more, let alone think of a response.

When he eventually looked away, the silence was deafening.

"Why did you come up here?" He eventually spoke through the quiet.

"Because… because of the music. Your music." I glanced at his guitar, which he'd leant up against the desk.

"But it's just music…"

"It kind of… has this affect on me…" I waded right into the subject I'd been trying to ignore ever since I'd met him by the river. But I couldn't stop there, no; my stupid mouth had to keep on going. "It, um, pulled me in." I almost _felt_ him raise his eyebrows; it was such a prominant move.

_Well done, Jess. Back into the old 'embarrassment v amusement' scenario._

But then he said something I hadn't expected at all. "Good."

"Good? Why-"

"Well, I wanted to apologize, so it's, erm, good that the music… brought you up here." He interrupted me, and it sounded like he was making it up on the spot to cover up a blunder.

"You could have waited until tomorrow to apologize." I looked at him, wanting to find out the real reason for him reacting in the way that he did.

"I probably wouldn't have seen you tomorrow; you'd be off with Kirk somewhere…" He replied, somewhat bitterly.

I wasn't having that. "What do you have against him?"

"Kirk? Oh, nothing." He accompanied this statement with a wave of his hand, but I could hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"But you completely refused to come and help him earlier…" I was getting into this now as I realised that ever since we'd arrived on this planet Matthew had shown a kind of hostility towards Tom. To back myself up I decided to voice my thoughts from earlier, in case he hadn't heard them. "For all I know he could've been down there getting steadily worse and worse, all because you couldn't be arsed-"

"He would _not_ have got worse, and I've already told you. I _couldn't_ have helped him. I can't help him now. It's not that I 'couldn't be arsed', not at all." He raised his voice slightly, but if anyone had been looking through the window they'd have thought he was getting very angry at the floor, because he still hadn't looked at me.

However, my mind did a very weird thing then. It focused completely on the way he'd said 'arsed', and I couldn't think of anything else to say.

He smirked as he read my thoughts, but it slowly faded into a sad smile, and then he lost the smile altogether. "Oh Jess, why won't you just admit it?"

"Admit what?" I looked into his eyes, which he'd finally turned in my direction.

"That… that we…" He sighed, and I lost his gaze. "That we have something."


	21. Bliss: 21

"What… do you mean?" I said, although I knew very well what he meant.

"You know what I mean." He smiled slightly at the floor, but it was without humour. Of course he knew that I knew what he meant.

_Damn mind reader._

"I won't admit it because it's not right." I threw at him, and he looked at me curiously.

"What do you mean, it's not right?" He was suddenly talking much more quickly than before and in some places I struggled to pick out separate words.

"I mean, I can't… I can't be with you." I didn't quite believe our conversation had got to this, of all things.

"Why not?" He raised his voice a little more.

"It's not _right!_" I matched his volume.

He sighed. "But don't you see, it _is!_ Jess…" He was looking at me with an expression on his face that I'd never seen there before, and I wasn't sure if I liked it. Longing.

"No. I-I can't." I couldn't let him talk me into this, or do anything else to make me agree.

_Now there's a thought… what else _is_ he doing?_

"It's only natural…" He leant forwards slightly and my panicked mind suddenly drove me to a wild conclusion.

"This is all you. You can read my mind, how do I know you haven't changed it?"

"What?"

"How do I know you're not _making_ me feel like this?" I expanded on my point, convincing myself I was right.

"Don't be ridiculous." He leant back again, rolling his eyes. "I thought you were more intelligent than this- you _are _more intelligent than this-"

I stood up. "But how do I know? I don't, do I? You could be controlling me or something, making me do whatever you want! You-"

"I am _not_ a danger to you, Jess." He stood up as well. "Completely the opposite."

"But you might be! And the others were right, I can't take that risk. I can't trust you. I-I can't be with you." I felt on the verge of tears. I couldn't stand there any more, and I turned to go.

"Jess-" He grabbed my arm, but I pulled it out of his grasp.

"Stay away from me!" I shouted, and ran out of there. I slammed the door behind me, and turned- to find Kelly and Chris stood in the corridor, staring straight at me. I quickly wiped a stray tear from my cheek and ignored them, making for my room.

"Oh no you don't. You can't make a racket like that at this time of night and come storming out of _his_ room without giving us an explanation." Kelly said, grabbing my arm just like Matthew had.

"Kelly! Just leave it, please. I… it's nothing." I was putting all my effort into holding back tears, so my attempt to free my arm from Kelly wasn't strong enough to have any affect. However, she let go anyway after I'd spoken.

"Jess… what's wrong? What did he do?" Chris said softly, a concerned look on his face. Kelly looked the same, but she kept glancing towards the Captain's door.

"He didn't do anything. It's okay." I said, but by the end it was just a whimper as the lump in my throat got even larger.

"Come here." He pulled me into a hug, which I gladly accepted. My brother gives the best hugs in the world.

"That's it now, though. Nothing… he… we…" I took a deep breath, trying to sort myself out. "It's- you don't need to worry about him… and me… any more." I couldn't look at Chris or Kelly, my gaze was fixed on a black smudge on the wall as my eyes slowly welled up.

"Oh…" Kelly said, realising what I meant.

Chris spoke next. "Look, Jess, are you sure you're okay? Do you want to-"

"No! Chris, please. I'm fine." I wiped my eyes and looked at him, and he didn't look happy. But I didn't care; I just wanted to get into my own room, into my bed. "Night," I muttered, and without waiting for a response I turned around and went into my room, closing the door purposefully behind me. I sincerely hoped they wouldn't come in to talk to me, but thankfully, after a bit of muttering, I finally heard their door close.

I lay awake beneath the duvet. Sleep didn't want to come just yet.

_Why am I crying? Why has this made me so upset? I should feel good- my best friends and my own brother have been on at me all week to stay away from the Captain, and now I've just made sure that he won't try anything any more. They'll be happy, I should be too... but for some reason I'm not._

I couldn't stop thinking about Matthew's face when he'd been denying my accusations. He'd looked so genuine, like he was telling the truth. And the way that he'd kept insisting that it _was_ right, that I _should_ be with him… at the time it had seemed creepy but when I thought about it, it struck me how he'd spoken like he really believed it himself. I knew I was only counting on his facial and vocal expressions to show his sincerity, and that probably wasn't the best way to do it, but the more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself.

And then I was punching my pillow. Why was I still thinking about him? He wasn't supposed to be any more than the Captain of the ship I worked and lived on, but somehow he'd become more than that, so much so that I couldn't stop thinking about him even if I wanted to.

I tried to banish all thoughts and images of him from my mind, but I found that he wouldn't budge. It wasn't right, it shouldn't have been happening, but it was.

_Why does Matthew__ have such a hold on me?_

I just wished he'd leave me alone. But although I went to sleep hating the man, my dreams that night were filled with nothing but my Captain.


	22. Bliss: 22

**Friday**

I was running along a bright blue river surrounded by red shrubby plants, my feet glancing off the surface of the liquid with each step. Something was chasing me, but I didn't know what, I just knew that I had to get away. I kept running and running, faster and faster, my feet making little splashes but not actually sinking below the surface of the water. After what seemed like hours of solid sprinting away from whatever was hunting me, the river stopped. Just ended, falling away below me into a bottomless canyon that was far too wide for me to jump to the other side. I stopped where I was, panting for breath, looking for a way across, but there was nothing to be seen. Then I heard a noise behind me. A kind of shuffling, like tiny little footsteps. I didn't want to turn around because somehow I knew that the thing that was making that noise was the same thing that had been chasing me. I stood frozen to the spot, not daring to turn around but unable to go any further. The noise happened again, but for a little longer this time. I was just considering whether I should start running along the edge of the canyon to get away when something grabbed my arm. It made me jump so much that I found myself falling forwards, following the path of the water, into the canyon with no bottom… But something caught me around my waist- the thing that had grabbed my arm and made the shuffling noises. I wondered why the thing that _had_ been chasing me had now _saved_ me as I hung staring over the precipice, but then I was pulled back and turned around, and I was leaning back over the gap, surely about to topple over and plummet into the gloom, but the thing was still holding me, its arm around my back, the other arm soon joining it and forming a tight circle around me that kept me from falling. I could see the thing properly now- I had nowhere else to look. It was a mass of darkness, a man wearing a humongous black cape with a hood so vast that it hid his face. He leaned in towards me and I thought he was going to bite my neck like a vampire, but then I realised I now had a better view inside the hood, and I peered up into the shadow that was all I could see, and faintly I began to recognise a hint of colour within the murk, two pinpricks of light, of bright, clear blue light…

My eyes wrenched themselves open and I fell off the bed.

"Shit…" I muttered as I rubbed my bruised head and scrabbled around for some clothes. I didn't want to linger on the dream I'd just had. It was different from all the others I'd had that night, which had all been about Matthe- the same person. But that last one- it had been more like a nightmare- hadn't included the Capt- the same person as the other ones. It had just been the last bit, the last couple of seconds that had had a hint of the person I'd been trying not to think of. Those two pinpricks of light, the blue pinpricks… well, there was only one kind of blue that I'd be able to recognise so immediately. Halfway through putting a t-shirt on I sighed as all my barriers were defeated and Matthew strode prominently back into my mind.

"Fucking hell." I finished getting dressed and swiftly stuck two fingers up at my window (because the fact that it was boarded up didn't stop it from letting in chinks of light that just happened to be _that_ shade of blue) before exiting the room.

When I stepped out into the corridor, no one was around. I was tremendously thankful, because I didn't really know how I felt about everyone at the moment and I didn't want anyone talking to me _just_ yet.

I trundled down to reception in search of food, and I realised from the position of the sun through several open windows I saw that it was midday. I must've slept in.

When I got down to the bottom I met my brother coming in through the front door, carrying a strangely shaped orange bottle.

"You up, then?" He grinned.

"Shut up. What's that?" I pointed to the bottle, changing the subject as quickly as I could so Chris wouldn't start talking about last night.

"This?" He held it up to the light. "The label says Unrax, but it's basically just a local cough mixture."

"You trust it?" I looked sceptically at the bottle. I wouldn't have bought medicine from a planet I didn't know even if I was about to explode.

"Well, Kelly isn't going to get better otherwise…" He winked, and I laughed. I'd thought the medicine was for the baby, and he'd realised. "So, how's Tom, then?" He walked a little further into the lobby.

"Tom? Oh, shit, I haven't been to see him yet…" I'd completely forgotten about Tom; my mind had been too full of the Captain. As I realised this I mentally kicked myself as well as Matthew, but he still wouldn't budge from my thoughts.

"You'd forgotten about him, hadn't you?" Chris said, more of a statement than a question. I felt myself going red.

"No! I just… um… was hungry!" I searched wildly for an excuse, but he saw through it, and shook his head.

"Come on," He started towards the stairs, and I followed, feeling thoroughly ashamed of myself.

_But then, it's not really my fault, it's the Captain's. He's the one taking over my mind…_

And with that unsavoury thought swirling round and round inside my head, I reached Tom's door.

Chris had gone up to the next floor to give Kelly the medicine, so when I went in I was on my own. Tom was propped up on the pillows in his bed, and when he saw me, his face lit up- but only for a second.

"Where the fuck did you go last night?" He said, his voice a lot stronger than it had been previously. And indeed, he did _look_ a lot better as well, just very annoyed. I was immediately reminded of all the events of last night, and my mind burned an even stronger blue.

"Tom, I'm sorry-"

"No, I don't care if you're sorry; just tell me _where_ you went, and_ why_." He folded his arms and glared at me.

I sighed. _Should I tell him the truth? He won't like it…_

"I went up to my room." I said. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either.

"And?" He said. I didn't add anything else, so he prompted me. "_Why_ did you feel the need to leave me here, on my own, when I could've been _dying_ or something, and-"

"Tom, please! Don't make me feel any guiltier than I already do! I- it was too hot in here, and I had a lot on my mind. I just… I don't really know why, I just… went upstairs…" I finished lamely. I still hadn't told a straight-out lie, but the truth had remained a secret.

"If there's anything else I'll find it out from Chris and Kelly…" He threatened, and I screwed up my eyes in frustration. If he asked Chris or Kelly they'd tell him that they'd seen me coming out of the Captain's room, crying.

"Fine. I went up-" I paused. I could see how this was going to go, all the awkward questions… "Before I tell you, I want you to promise you won't interrupt."

He looked a little confused, but he agreed.

I continued. "I… I heard some music, and I wanted to know where it was coming from. I… it sounded like it was coming from upstairs, so that's where I went, and it turned out it was Matthew."

"Who?" Tom butted in, and my entire mind went into _'oh SHIT…'_ mode.

"Fuck… I mean… I mean the C-Captain." I couldn't look into his eyes. He asked the question I'd been dreading.

"Since _when_ have you called him _Matthew_?" Tom looked absolutely furious, and the duvet was now on the floor.

"Look, Tom, you said you wouldn't interrupt…" I was trying to think of ways to avoid the question, but then I was interrupted again- and not by Tom. The door had opened and Chris was there. I wondered why my bad luck had taken things this far, but then I realised that this _was_ Chris' room, after all. He was perfectly entitled to go into his own room, I just wished he'd picked a different time...

He looked from Tom's furious face to my guilty expression, and spoke. "What are you two on about?"

Tom answered before I could. "She's calling the Captain '_Matthew_'. She just did it, like- like it was nothing! She keeps saying there's nothing going on between them and then she goes and says something like tha-"

"Tom, if you'd just _listen _to me I'd explain everything-"

"Woah, wait a minute." Chris' booming voice drowned out both mine and Tom's, and we fell silent. My brother looked at me with a very disappointed expression, but he gave me the freedom to explain. "Tom, hear her out. Give her a chance to make this clear." I looked thankfully at him, but as he went to sit on his bed he added, "It had better be good, mind."

I took a couple of deep breaths. I was in dangerously deep shit. But I had to carry on, with two expectant faces staring up at me, so I did. "So, I was stood outside his door listening to this music-" I realised Chris hadn't been there when I'd told Tom about the music so I quickly explained- "there was this music, it had woken me up and I went looking for where it was coming from," before continuing with my story. "And then he opened the door and told me to come in, and I did, and-"

"So you weren't _meeting_ him up there, then?" Chris said quietly.

"No, I just heard the music, and-"

"Why did you go in?" Tom interrupted me, again.

"Well…" I couldn't tell them about the pull Matthew had on me, so I made up a lame excuse. "It would've been… um… rude to just… walk off after he'd, um, invited me in…" I trailed off and bit my lip.

Tom didn't buy it. "But you don't know what could've happened, he could've raped you or somethi-"

"_Tom._ Let her explain." Chris was speaking in his quiet angry voice, like our Dad used to do. It gave me goosebumps, in a bad way.

I was stuck with the expectant silence again, so I hesitantly filled it. "He, um… asked me why I'd come up and I said it was because of the music, and then he, um…" I didn't know how to say the next bit. I had purposely skipped over Matthew's apology for being rude to me on the staircase, because I didn't want Tom knowing that the Captain had refused to help him after he'd been attacked. It would just give him another reason to hate Matthew. But then, how was I going to explain that the Captain had gone all creepy and started saying we were 'made for each other' and so on?

"What did he do, Jess?" Chris said, still very quiet, but sounding concerned instead of angry. He knew I'd come out of the Captain's room crying last night, and I could tell he was putting two and two together.

"He didn't really _do_ anything, he just… said stuff." I was staring straight down at my feet as my brother picked apart my defences.

"Like what?"

"Like…" I took a deep breath and ploughed straight into it. "Like we're meant to be together and it's right for me to feel like this and I shouldn't keep denying that we have something because it's only holding us back and… something like that." I closed my eyes and plonked down on the end of Tom's bed. He was staring at me, wide eyed.

"Wait… you said that _he_ said that you shouldn't keep denying that you... whatever it was." Tom breathed.

"Yeah." I said, hugging my knees up to my chest.

"So… you've been denying it, then? You haven't actually… you two aren't…"

I smiled, but there was no laughter in my voice. "Well done, Tom. This is what I've been trying to tell you the whole time. I'm not… _with_ Matthew. And I don't want to be, either." I closed my eyes, trying to banish the blue that _still_ persisted to linger behind my eyelids.

"You just called him Matthew, though. Just then." Chris sighed. "Jess, if there's nothing between you two, why are you suddenly on first name terms with him?" Tom had seemed satisfied with my explanation, but my brother evidently wasn't.

I looked at him. "I… I've like, been talking to him a lot recently, just us two, and he asked me to call him that. I thought he was just being friendly…"

_You liar. You loved it when he wanted you to call him by his first name, when he told you that you were the 'first' crew member he'd asked. Who're you kidding, girl? You've completely fallen for him!_

I shouted out and put my hands over my face, trying to shut my mind up. Then I remembered that Chris and Tom were in the room, and peeped through my fingers.

"Jess?" Chris was knelt in front of me, his hand reaching out as if to hold my shoulder. "You okay, sis?"

_No. My mind doesn't belong to me any more, I can't think about anything without _him_ lingering in my thoughts, I can't stop thinking about him when it's the only thing I want to do…_

"I'm fine. I've just been an idiot. I'm sorry." I said in a monotone, feeling thoroughly depressed that I couldn't tell them what was _really_ bothering me.

Chris didn't look convinced, but he left it. "It's okay. Now… why don't you and Tom go and wander around outside for a bit? It'll do him… it'll do you both good." His gaze lingered on me for a second but then he looked to Tom for approval. Tom just grunted, and Chris looked at me, but I looked down at the floor. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Suit yourselves, you know what? I don't care. Waste away in your own depression in here if you want, it doesn't bother me." He walked out of the room and came very close to slamming the door behind him. It had been a while since I'd seen my brother so frustrated and annoyed, and what made it worse was that it was my fault. I sighed.

"Come on. We're going out." I grabbed Tom's sleeve and dragged him off of the bed.

"Where?" He stopped to put some shoes on.

"Somewhere." I didn't really care where we went, just as long as it was outside. Chris was right, it'd do me good.

"Jess." Suddenly Tom was giggling. "You're still wearing slippers."

I looked down, and my feet were indeed still encased in the fluffy, dotty shoes. I smiled, I couldn't help it. "Wait here then, I'll go and get some proper shoes."

He smiled back at me, and it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders as I ran up the stairs.


	23. Bliss: 23

When I got to my room I noticed something strange. The boards on my window had been ripped off; leaving the floor covered in white dust from whatever kind of paste had been holding it up. The boards themselves were splintered and broken, with all the remaining shards carelessly thrown around the space by my window. I didn't go anywhere near the area as I went in search of shoes, because I didn't have enough time to investigate what with Tom waiting downstairs.

However, as I finally spotted my converse lurking under my bed, a second thing caught my eye. Laid very carefully on my pillow, with a little piece of paper tucked underneath it, was a beautiful necklace. Well, I say beautiful… it was utterly stunning. A simple golden chain, with a small circle (about the diameter of the first two joints of my little finger) of gemstones hanging at the bottom. A deep red, a golden yellow, a pure emerald green, a pale blue and an intense purple was the pattern of the expensive looking stones, repeated around the circle three times. I stared at in awe for a minute or two, one converse half on, the other dangling by its laces from my hand, wondering wildly how on _earth_ something like that had got onto _my_ pillow. Then I remembered the note, and dropped my converse to slide the little square of paper out from underneath the golden chain.

Before I could read it, however, Tom burst into the room and I quickly slipped the necklace into one hand whilst scrunching the note into my pocket with the other.

"What's taking you so-" He stopped, and I thought for a second that I must've left the gold chain hanging out between my fingers or something, but I saw that he was looking at the window. "Wow, what happened to that?" He frowned at me. "And why's it taking you so long to put your shoes on?"

"Sorry, sorry…" I hastily slipped my converse on properly and followed Tom out of the room. It was when we were halfway down the stairs that I realised the necklace was still in my hand- I hadn't left it in my room like I'd intended to.

"So… where are we actually going, then?" Tom said, from in front of me. I decided not to shove the necklace in my pocket like the note; it looked far too precious for that.

"Um… dunno, just have a wander and see if there's anything interesting we haven't seen yet…" I said, pre-occupied with trying to fasten the necklace around my neck without Tom noticing. I had worked out that this was the safest place for it to be- it was very unlikely to get damaged whilst hanging around my neck. However, the process of actually putting it _on_ was proving quite difficult, seeing as the stairwell had a tendency to turn a corner every so often. This meant that Tom was facing me every now and then as he turned the corner while I was still descending the last short flight, so I had to hide what I was doing under the pretence of scratching my neck or brushing my hair out of the way. I eventually managed to succeed when we were around the second floor, and I hastily tucked the circle of gems inside my top, so they were hidden from view.

We got to the reception and stepped outside into the blinding blue sunshine.

"So… where're we gonna go, then?" Tom said, turning to me and shielding his eyes. "Bearing in mind that I don't want to go too far, I don't think I'll be able to last a full on trek…"

I laughed. "Fair enough. Why don't we go to the end of the road and along that market street we saw on the first day? We didn't really explore much around there…" I decided on a random plan of action.

"Alright then, that's not too far. As long as we don't get lost, cos I'll get _really_ miserable." He playfully shoved me as we began to walk, and I retaliated, and by the time we'd reached the end of the road, we'd both hit the ground more than twice.

I_I

"Seems like it's shut today…" Tom remarked as we turned on to the market street. All the stalls were still there, but there were no products or people to be seen. "What day is it?"

"Friday." I glanced behind me, to make sure there was nothing more interesting going on along the stretch of road behind us.

"Maybe Friday's their day off or something, like a weekend…" Tom mused as we ambled along the wide road. "I'm glad of it, mind."

"Hmm?" I hadn't really been listening to Tom; I'd been looking around and taking in the sights. I was particularly interested in a tall, majestic looking tower directly ahead of us.

"Well, because otherwise we'd have a load of Laths and stuff… saying… stuff… Jess, are you listening to me?" He stopped walking, and I gradually faded to a halt as well, a couple of paces in front of him.

"That tower looks interesting…" I murmured quietly, and Tom had to ask me to repeat myself before he understood what I was saying.

"But it looks ages away… I'm not going all the way over there, Jess, I'll get too tired. Let's just stick to all the roads around the hotel for now, yeah?" He took a few steps so he was standing by my side, but I wasn't looking at him. I was gazing up at the mysterious tower. "Jess?" He stood in front of me, and blocked my view.

"What? Sorry, I was miles away." I shook my head and smiled.

"Yeah, miles away over there with that tower." He said, but I didn't reply.

I'd realised that if I tipped my head _ever so slightly _to the side, I could just about see the top of the tower…

"Jess, you okay? You wanna go back to the hotel?" Tom moved to block my view _again_, and I had no choice but to reply.

"No, I want to go to that tower." I said, firmly locking eyes with him.

"Why? It's just a tower…"

"It looks interesting, though! And think of the view you'd get from the top…" I gazed up at the very tip of the tower, trying to visualise what Orrup might look like from up there.

Tom wasn't impressed "But it's too far away for me to manage going there _and_ back, I'm too weak from-"

"Well you can go back to the hotel and I'll go on my own, then." I said, and satisfied with that decision, I pushed past Tom and started down the road.

"Jess! For god's sake, this better not be a joke…" He jogged to catch up with me, getting more out of breath than he should have done for such a small distance. But I was walking quickly now, my eyes fixed on that tower.

"Tom, you're going to do yourself damage if you come with me, I realise that. You really ought to go back to the hotel-"

"But why do you want to see this tower so much?" He asked, his voice growing higher in pitch. I ignored him at first, but then his question got through to me, and I realised…

"I don't really know…" I said, and bit my lip, trying to think of valid reasons for walking all that way just for a building. I mean, yeah, it was a pretty cool looking tower that stretched up way into the clouds, but it was still just a building.

Tom rolled his eyes. "You don't really know," He repeated, sounding fed up.

"I just… I really want to go and see it, Tom, what's the harm?" I glanced up at the tower again and realised that it was actually a lot closer than I'd thought, there were only two or three rows of houses between myself and it.

"I just don't think you should be going such a long way from the hotel on your own, that's all. You saw what happened to me when I went into that old woman's house alone…" He shuddered, but I wasn't worried about getting attacked.

"But I've got the-" I stopped myself. I'd almost said 'the Captain', and that would have got me into a _lot_ of trouble what with the way Tom felt about Matthew at the moment. But then I realised that _I_ wasn't too happy with the Captain at that moment either.

_Why did I suddenly think of _him_ as a form of protection when I don't want him anywhere near me?_

"You've got the what?" Tom prompted me, as my silence trailed on.

"I've got the energy. You… you haven't…" I said weakly, trying to cover up my mistake. I was still unsure and a little worried about my thought process. Ever since Thursday night, as each minute went by I'd been getting surer and surer that the Captain was in some way controlling my mind, making me think things that I wouldn't have done normally. Was this recent mental outburst about him just even more evidence of this?

"_Energy_ doesn't have anything to do with whether you'll get attacked or not, though! You're not being careful enough, Jess…" Tom replied, and I was brought back to the physical world.

"But Tom, look around you. There's no one about, and you saw how busy this place was on Monday, it's bound to be a… a day off- like you said!" I was warming to my theme now. "And if there're any of them about, it's likely to be only one or two, and even if they _do_ pose a threat to me, which we're not even sure all of them do, I could outrun them, it's safer than if there were loads-"

"Woah, woah! Calm down!" Tom was shaking his head, and he put his hand on my shoulder, slowing us both to a stop. "You really want to go and see this tower, be my guest, okay? I'm just saying that I won't be able to come all the way with you, that's all…" He looked apologetically at me. "I would if I had the strength, honest, but unless you brought some chocolate with you I don't think I'll be able to manage."

He looked genuinely disappointed, and I felt a little sorry for him. "Do you want to go back and get some food, so you can come with me? I'll wait, I don't mind…" I was beginning to feel a little stupid for being so insistent on visiting the tower. I was acting like a child, but something about it seemed interesting, and especially since it wasn't miles and miles away… what was the harm?

"No, you're alright. If you want I'll go to the foot of it with you, but I won't be able to climb all the way up. I'll just wait at the bottom or something…" Tom said, smiling a little half-heartedly.

"Well, if you're sure…" I waited for his nod of approval, and we began to walk again, my feeling of stupidity having shot straight through the hypothetical roof.


	24. Bliss: 24

We finally reached the bottom of the tall tower, and what a sight it was. Stretching up until completely out of sight in the clouds, the brown brick looked eerie in the blue daylight. I looked around for some kind of sign or information to tell me more about what its purpose was, why it was there, but there was nothing to see. My eyes then came to rest on Tom. The whole walk up had taken around twenty minutes, but he looked as if we'd been walking non-stop for hours.

"God Tom, are you okay? I'm really sorry; I shouldn't have made you walk all this way…" I went over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I see what you mean now, it is kinda cool… shame there's nothing… no signs or shit…" He ran his hand over his face, looking thoroughly worn out.

"You sit down for a minute; I'll just walk around the base, see if there's anything on the other side." I decided, thinking that he deserved a rest, and anyway, it was worth a try.

"Yeah, sounds good…" Tom sighed, collapsing onto a large, flat rock close to the wall of the tower. I smiled at him, and started to walk around the giant cylinder, clockwise.

I walked for about thirty seconds before deciding I was halfway round. I stopped and inspected the brickwork, having spotted no sign of information anywhere so far. I sighed, brushing my fingers along the curved wall in front of me as I started to walk again, dwindling a little this time. As another thirty seconds passed by I started to give up on finding anything worth seeing, and the guilt for bringing Tom all this way for nothing had just begun to sink in when I saw it. A modest little doorway in the side of the tower, only about five foot high. I peered into it and I could make out a tightly winding spiral staircase in the gloom. I wondered why the staircase was so small in diameter when the tower was about five times as wide, and found myself slowly ducking under the low ceiling and stepping through the doorway.

It was then that I came out of the daze I hadn't even noticed I was in and remembered Tom.

I stuck my head out of the doorway and called, "Tom! Can you hear me from here?"

"Yeah… you okay? Found something?" Was the faint reply.

"Yes and yes! A staircase… looks like it goes all the way up!"

"Bloody hell Jess, you're not actually going to go up that thing, are you?"

I considered, but just for a second. "Course I am! Why not?" I had the sudden urge to laugh and found myself giggling over Tom's reply, so I didn't quite hear what he said. I called out for him to repeat, but I heard footsteps and heavy breathing and realised that he'd come around to meet me. I noticed he'd gone anti-clockwise, and I was glad he'd taken the short route.

"Jess, if you go up that thing I'm going back to the hotel." He shook his head. "I'm not waiting and I'm not going to be able to come with you."

"I wish you could…" I pouted stupidly, and he laughed.

"Aww, I'm sorry... But seriously. You'll have to go on your own."

"Sounds fine by me! I don't want you to get bored, or… hurt." I smiled sympathetically, but he sighed, and I realised that he'd been trying to dissuade me from climbing the tower rather than encourage me to go on my own.

"But Jess… you don't know what could be up there!" He squinted up at the disappearing summit of the tower.

"Aw, come on Tom, there's not going to be anything except an amazing view! Look around, the area's completely empty on ground level, so why should there be anyone up there? I'll be fine, Tom." I smiled encouragingly, and he seemed to give in, visibly deflating a little.

"Well, alright. But turn your GSC on." He took a little black box out from his pocket and flicked a tiny switch at the bottom, the whole thing suddenly coming to life with tiny lights.

Okay, time for yet another explanation… (Seriously, you guys in the past are missing out on so much.)

GSC stands for General Space Communicator. Basically, it allows us to communicate with anyone else who has one, at any distance, in any kind of environment including underwater and outer space. It also allows you to track one other specific device, if you sync them beforehand, which is what Tom and I did on that occasion. That way he'd know if I strayed anywhere other than the tower or the route back to the hotel, and he'd be able to talk to me to ask why. The only snag is, like the U.R.C.C (universally recognised currency card- remember that?), the planet you're on has to have accepted the usage of these devices for them to be able to work. If they don't, it's exactly like not being able to get a signal on one of those ancient Earth mobile phone things (outer space doesn't count in this- it has its own kind of weird space-y signal that makes them work even if you're not on a planet). Thankfully, when Tom and I tried, it seemed that Orrup recognised and accepted these devices, and we spent a couple of minutes amusing ourselves by talking into one of the little black boxes and being able to hear our voice coming out of the other one.

Eventually, however, Tom decided that it was time to go, and with many _be careful…_'s and _oh fuck off, you know I will…_'s, we separated and I was waving goodbye to Tom as he disappeared around the corner of the tower.

I looked up at the tall, tall building for a second, and then inspected the stairs in front of me. The building looked very old, and I had almost no doubt that the staircase kept on going all the way up. I was going to get very tired, but I managed to convince myself that it would be worth it for the view.

I glanced up at the tower once more. "Right…" I muttered to myself, and I started to climb.

"_"

The time while I was climbing the stairs passed stupidly quickly. I lost count at 150 steps, but not long after that I found myself next to a window. I was sure I hadn't seen a window from the bottom of the building, so I figured out that I must be higher than could be seen from ground level. My thoughts were confirmed as I gazed out of the dusty glass, an incredible yet tiny snippet of Orrup greeting me, from way off the ground. I was so high up already, I mustn't have far to go now…

I was only just beginning to grow tired and short of breath when blue light flooded the stairway in front of me, and I rounded a sharp corner to find a doorway, identical to the one at the bottom but much, much higher up. I slowly clambered through it and stepped out onto a wide balcony that looked like it circled the entire circumference of the tower. I squinted up and saw that the tower itself only went on up another ten metres or so before ending in a blunt, unflattering point at the top. But I wasn't interested in that. I looked out onto the world below me.

The tops of the buildings looked about a square centimetre big. The area I could see from where I was on the balcony was only the edge of the city, however, and I could see that after the hundreds of little white blocks that were buildings, there was a large expanse of… nothing. Well, that's what it looked like, from up here. Masses and masses of dead land, stretching away from me as far as I could see, and starting about half a mile away from the foot of the tower. My eyes swept across the deserted space, wondering why it had come to such ruin. However, it wasn't as wide as it was long, and as my eyes moved from left to right the land went dark green and I realised I was looking at the 'forbidden' forest that the Captain had warned us to stay away from when we had first arrived. This mass of trees was nothing like the little wood with the river running through that Tom, Chris, Kelly and I had found. It looked so dense, and even though I was a long way up I could tell that the trees had grown extremely closely together. My eyes flicked from the edge of the city, across the wasteland and to the forest, and I wondered _why_ the Captain had warned us not to venture into the mass of trees. It's not like any of us would try, with the amount of dead, sun-scorched land in-between it and civilisation.

I edged closer to the short wall running around the edge of the balcony, and peered over it down at the ground. I immediately started to feel dizzy as I took in how high up I was, and how easy it would be to fall, which was weird as I'd never been troubled by vertigo before. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, still partly hunched over the wall.

I suddenly heard a noise behind me- it sounded like a breath, or a gasp. My eyes flew open and I stood up straight, keeping my gaze fixed on a random point in the wasteland, not daring to turn around and trying to convince myself that it was just the wind. But the air was still, and I was growing more and more wary, painstakingly listening out for another sound.

Thirty seconds of silence passed, and I began to relax. Maybe I had just imagined the sound.

A minute passed. I was being stupid, getting all worked up about a bit of wind.

Two minutes passed. I might as well have a look around the other side of the balcony, instead of just standing here like a lemon.

I counted another ten seconds, and then turned around.

Blue. Two, stunning blue orbs and a shock of black hair and I was falling, falling backwards over the wall of the tower, over the edge of the chasm by the river in my dream, but a dark stranger had caught me, had his arms around my waist, was holding me, was staring at me with those blue, blue eyes…

"Do be careful," said Matthew.


	25. Bliss: 25

My eyes widened and I managed to stutter a single word between my frequent breaths of shock. "You!"

He smiled. "Me." His eyes burned into mine as he slowly lifted me upright. I was a rag doll; it was all I could do to try and keep my head from falling back as I was placed gently back on my feet by the Captain. His hands seemed to linger on my back as they slowly slid off of me, and I looked away, waiting until he wasn't touching me any more before I peered up at him again from under my eyelashes.

Neither of us said anything for a second, both of us stealing glances at the other while we thought they weren't looking. Eventually, when our timing matched up and our gaze accidentally met for the third time, he spoke. "Are you alright?"

I goldfished for about two seconds. (I opened and closed my mouth without any sound coming out for about two seconds.) "No. No, I'm not. I thought I was going to fall over the edge of that thing and _die_, I thought you were some kind of Lath murderer, and when I actually realised who you were I had yet another heart attack." I frowned and folded my arms, turning away from him.

"Well, I'm sorry for the first two counts, but I thought you'd be _pleased_ to see me, rather than shocked." He shot back immediately, smooth as you like.

"You've got to be kidding. I've only just convinced myself that you're some crazy, mind reading psychopath who can control me! I'm not exactly going to be _pleased_ to-"

"Alright, I get the picture." He sighed, looking fed up.

"What?"

"Well, I've been hearing exactly the same thoughts in your head all day. Trust me, I- 'get the picture'." He made quotation marks around the last three words by curling his fingers. I don't think I'd ever heard him sounding so sarcastic. I didn't have anything to say back to that, but he wasn't finished. "It's quite depressing, actually, having a connection with someone who _hates_ you. I thought we'd got over that the last time, but it seems that I'm just not likeable where you're concerned-"

"You're talking about this like it's a relationship."

"It is a relationship."

"Excuse me?"

"Any kind of acquaintance is a relationship." He said, quite seriously, but the corner of his mouth twitched. I frowned. "What, did you think I meant _that_ kind of relationship? No, no, not at all!" He couldn't contain his smile that time, and smirked happily away at me. I didn't like to admit that I'd been outdone, so I focused in on something else he'd said.

"You said you had a _connection_ with me." I narrowed my eyes.

"Don't try and play detective. You know what I meant by that." He said.

_No I don't…_ I thought, but before I had time to speak my mind he spoke again.

"Yes you do. I can read your mind, Jess. And only _your_ mind. Tell me _that's_ not a connection." He rolled his eyes.

"Fine. It's a connection, but it's a creepy one." I fully turned my back on him, and started to wander around the balcony, trailing my fingers along the low wall surrounding it. I heard him begin to follow me.

"What made you come up here? I was hoping for a bit of peace and quiet, to be honest." He said, coming to walk by my side.

"You were here already? I thought you'd read my mind and come up." I looked out at the view rather than at his face.

"No, I was already here. You heard my reaction when I came round the corner and found you, I saw you tense up." He replied.

"Oh, that was you!" I realised, remembering the sound that I had tried to convince myself was wind. It must have been his footsteps, or his breathing. "But you could've said something, I was shitting myself."

"I was worried that you'd jump a mile and fall over the edge." He said, and I snorted. He carried on anyway. "I could tell from your mind that you still didn't- still don't like me very much, and I didn't want to startle you, so I waited until you'd relaxed a little before coming over, but… it looks like I still gave you a bit of a shock…"

"Too right… I could've died!"

"Then it was a good thing I caught you." He said, and I stopped walking. He came around so he was facing me, but my eyes were fixed on the matchbox city below and around us. I didn't want to look at his face yet. "And speaking of that, I haven't had my thank you yet." He continued softly.

"Thank you." I muttered, and pushed past him, resuming my lazy tour of the balcony. He was soon by my side again.

"You know, you still haven't answered my question." He said, and I frowned, but he soon elaborated. "What brought you up here?"

"I… I just saw it and it seemed interesting and… I wanted to come and have a look, that's all." I mumbled, realising how vague my explanation was.

_But then again, I don't really know the answer to that question anyway, do I?_

"But you were with Tom, am I right?" Matthew persisted, and I nodded, realising that the mind reading was at work again. "And you knew he was weak, and that he couldn't have come all the way up with you." He continued, and I nodded again. "So why come up alone? Why drag him all the way down here just for him to have to walk back up to the hotel again? Why-"

"Ok, ok! I don't know! Something about this place seemed interesting. It kind of… pulled me in." I interrupted quickly, without really realising what I was saying. I upped my walking speed, and I realised that the thick forest was once again in my view. We must have done a whole circuit of the tower's balcony.

"Pulled you in? It could have been dangerous!" He scolded, matching my pace.

"Why do you care?"

"Because I do."

"Wait a minute." I stopped so abruptly that he carried on walking a couple of steps before realising I wasn't there and coming to a halt. But I didn't really care. Something had dawned on me. "You know when you play your guitar, and it kind of draws me in… this is exactly the same feeling! It's you!" I shouted dramatically, rounding on Matthew and pointing straight at his chest. He looked lightly amused. I wasn't impressed with this reaction (or _lack of_ reaction), but I carried on anyway. "I know it was you, you wanted me up here, you made me come up here just so-"

"Jess, please calm down," he said over the top of my ranting, and my voice gradually faded into silence. "Why would I want to_... lure_ you up here? What could I possibly get out of that?" He asked naively.

_Oh god... do I really have to _explain_ this?_

But he was looking at me expectantly, so I had to reply. _"_Um... to... takeadvantageofme." In the end I mumbled it, all in one breath. He didn't bother asking me to repeat myself, he must have excellent hearing, or he'd just read my mind again.

"Well... I'm offended."

I sighed. "Look, that sounded a lot more stupid out loud than it did in my head, okay? I'm just not comfortable with you being able to control me-"

_"_Jess, I have not, do not, and will not ever control you. For the last time, I have _no_ conscious influence over your mind!" He said, sounding utterly exasperated.

"What do you mean, no _conscious_ influence?" I enquired, my voice still a little bit feeble from my recent embarrassment.

"I mean that of _course_ I'm not _making_ you do anything. I'm just suggesting that we may have more of a connection than just me being able to see into your mind." He said calmly, the merest hint of annoyance in his voice. He seemed to be able to calm down a lot easier than I could. He still can, the bastard.

"That's crap. Of course I'm not _connected_ to you." I huffed and turned away.

The Captain pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and sighed. "Jess, trust me. If you don't _listen_, your whole life is going to be a lot harder."

There was a pause, in which I stared at him in disbelief. Then I laughed, sarcastically. "Oh yeah, cryptic _shit_ like that helps a lot."

He didn't say anything in return, but I didn't see any physical reaction either, because I'd turned away again, now staring out at a sparkling blue sea that stretched in front of this side of the tower. But funnily enough, the 'amazing' view didn't have that much appeal to me any more. I just stared at it, willing my mind to go blank. This always seemed to happen whenever I was around the Captain. The feeling that he betters me, and however much I try, I can never outwit or beat him. Hell, I still get that feeling now.

The Captain walked around to my side and stared out at the view next to me. I shifted my gaze so that I couldn't see any part of him, not even in my peripheral vision. It was a childish thing to do, but when your eyes are watering from something that has nothing to do with dirt or wind; you don't want the cause of the infliction to see. I wasn't going to let him know that I was close to crying.

"Do you like it?" Matthew broke the silence, after about three minutes.

"Pardon?" I said, my voice coming out a bit lower than I'd intended, probably something to do with the rising lump in my throat.

"Oh, I was just wondering… it doesn't really matter." His voice was very quiet.

"No, go on." I blinked very fast, looking up at the sky, and the wetness in my eyes subsided a little.

He hesitated before continuing. "The necklace. Do you like it?"

I looked at him, but his face was turned away from me. I'd completely forgotten about the necklace that I'd found on my pillow. I carefully extracted it from under my shirt and brought it out into the sun, the circle of gems glittering as I tilted them into the light. I looked from Matthew to the gems and back again a couple of times, before settling my eyes on the back of Matthew's neck. "Um… yeah. A lot, actually. Why?" I said, hesitantly, because I thought I already knew the answer.

"That's… good." He ignored my short query and looked straight out over the balcony. I was gifted with the sight of the side of his face. "I wasn't sure-"

"Matthew." My guess had been confirmed. "It was you?" I waited for a response, but he didn't give one. "You…" I couldn't say the exact words: 'you bought me the necklace'. They seemed to get stuck in my throat.

However, he replied to my second prompt. "Yeah. I thought you'd work that out." He turned his face away from me again and his left arm- the arm closest to me- reached up to scratch nervously at the back of his neck. It was weird, seeing him like this, when I'd been so used to perceiving him as a man of authority and power.

"Work it out? _How_?" I shook my head at him in disbelief, letting go of the gems, allowing them to fall against the centre of my collarbone.

"Well… who else would buy you a necklace?" He said, finally looking my way and smiling, but his eyes didn't quite meet mine and they soon drifted back out onto the view from the balcony.

"Uh… not you?" I said incredulously, wondering how on Earth he had expected me to work it out.

"Oh, come on, Jess. You read the note, who else could it have been?" He said, his whole body turning towards me this time, and his eyes gluing themselves to mine.

"The note…?"

He frowned. "Didn't you find it?" He sounded worried.

"N-" I was halfway through shaking my head when I remembered. "Yes! Yes, I did, but I didn't read it-" I was fishing out the piece of paper that I'd stuffed in my jeans pocket earlier as I spoke. "-I was just trying to… I…" I was going to tell the Captain about how I'd been in a rush and I hadn't wanted Tom to know so I'd just shoved it in my pocket and forgotten about it, but that all faded from my mind as my eyes travelled slowly across the three words inscribed into the piece of paper.

_Jessica. __Forgive me._

Now, I'd never studied his handwriting but I knew for sure that it was the Captain who had written this. And even if I hadn't, I would've been able to guess, just from the sentiment and wording alone.

"Fuck…" I breathed, and suddenly the piece of paper was slowly being screwed up in my right hand as I turned my head to the left, away from the Captain. The lump in my throat was saying a big 'hello' and this time I couldn't hold back the wetness that was forming in my eyes. A single teardrop fell to the floor, along with the tiny ball of paper with those three words written on it. I tried to wipe my eyes as inconspicuously as possible, but then I gave a great sniff and I think that might've given it away.


	26. Bliss: 26

A warm hand pressed gently on my right shoulder. "Jess, don't cry, I never…"

"Take it back." I reached up with both arms, making him remove his hand from my shoulder. I undid the delicate clasp of the necklace and caught his hand before it fell completely to his side. I dropped the circle of gems into the centre of his palm, and let the golden chain slither down beside it. "Sell it, get the money back. It must've cost a fortune."

"Yeah, it did." He said bluntly, harshly. I looked at him, with wide eyes. I hadn't expected him to react like that.

"How much?"

He just smiled and shook his head.

I couldn't bear the disappointment slowly building up around us, around him especially, but I couldn't just leave it there. "Why, Matthew? Why did you buy me a necklace? I probably would've forgiven you, eventually, without it." He didn't react, didn't move, he just stared at the jewellery that was winking cruelly at him from the palm of his hand. I felt sorry for him, but I had to stop this, make him see sense. "I'm a mechanic. On _your_ ship, under _your_ command! This… this can't… it's not right, you can't do this! Matthew, out of _400_ people, why _me?_"

He smiled bitterly, still looking at the circle of precious gems. "You know, you're making me feel pretty stupid."

I rolled my eyes and almost growled in frustration. "Well maybe you are stupid, pulling a stunt like this!"

"It's hardly a stunt!" He was getting angry now. His hand closed over the necklace, forming a fist, and he looked at me, his blue eyes on fire. "Look, I only did it to get you back on my good side! That's important to me!"

I ignored the last bit, even though he'd said it more softly and it might've been a good route to take to calm us both down. But I had to get this sorted, now. I'd made a decision with my best friends, my brother, and my own mind, and I wasn't changing that now. "The reason _why_ you were on my bad side in the first place is because we were getting too close! And- and you try to fix that by buying me a necklace? Sir-"

"Matthew."

"No." I shook my head, the lump in my throat now so big that I felt like I could hardly breathe. "_Sir._" I was too angry, too upset to say anything else.

We both looked at each other for a couple of seconds more, breathing heavily. The Captain broke away first, striding over to the wall of the tower. I though he was going to go down the stairs and leave me alone, but when I glanced around I saw that he was still there, leaning against the wall, his head back and his hands over his face. I looked quickly around to the front again as two tears escaped from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. I quickly, impatiently brushed them away. I didn't have time for crying.

The silence then went on for far too long. I still regret now the fact that one of us hadn't broken it sooner. If I'd have actually said one of the many apologies that were racing around my mind at that instant, I might have saved what happened next. But I didn't, and it was Matthew who cruelly broke the silence.

"I would be so much better for you than Tom Kirk." He spat out the name of my best friend with so much venom that I almost flinched.

My head whipped around. "What did you just say?"

"You heard." He pushed himself off of the wall and walked a couple of steps towards me. "You'll end up with him in the end, the unworthy bastard."

"How dare you!" I turned around completely, but stayed where I was, too shocked to move or say anything.

"Now you listen to me." He started to walk towards me again, this time moving with a purpose. "Maybe if I'd have done this differently, if I'd have been cleverer, if I'd have planned this better… I don't know." He sounded absolutely furious, and by then he was only standing about a foot away from me. "But you'd be grateful. If I'd have done this right…" His voice went dangerously quiet as he said the next two sentences. "I'd have you begging. I'd have you on your fucking knees for me."

His eyes were burning into mine, keeping me frozen still. I didn't know whether he'd intended the innuendo or not, but either way it was horrible. I honestly couldn't think of anything to say as he stood there, his eyes on fire, his face so close to mine that I could feel how heavily he was breathing, and his hands balled into fists, one of which had a hint of gold peeking out from between his fingers.

The moment only lasted for about a second, but he was so intimidating, so… not himself, that it seemed like hours. Not having anything to say, I just wanted to get away from there. I took a step back, and he didn't move, which was a good thing. But his eyes were still locked on to mine, and it wasn't until I took another step back and felt the wall of the balcony hit the back of my knees that I looked away, gasping in surprise as I tried to keep my balance. Thankfully I didn't fall, but I was so scared at that minute that when I looked back and saw the Captain's arm half reached out towards me, I immediately thought he was going to push me over the edge. I think I gave one, maybe two quiet sobs as I looked back into his eyes, but after that I couldn't take it any more and I ran.

I ran to the tiny doorway and raced under it, thundering down the spiral staircase at top speed. I don't think I would've cared much if I'd have tripped and fallen all the way to the bottom. I faintly heard someone cry "FUCK!" but my mind was too focused on other things to guess who it might've been, and why. I couldn't stop thinking about the last things the Captain had said to me.

"_I'd have you begging. I'd have you on your fucking knees for me."_

Those two sentences, swirling round and round in my head, until I couldn't take it any more and the tears started to flow freely as I raced down the steps.

I managed to get to the bottom even faster than I'd got to the top earlier, for which I was glad. But the sky was just beginning to go dark and I knew I needed to get back to the hotel. I leant against the wall of the tower, composing myself. Taking one deep breath after another, I slowly calmed myself down. I then noticed a soft beeping that was coming from my jacket. I sniffed a few times as I pulled my GSC out of the pocket. I flicked the little switch and listened.

"Bloody hell, take your time!"

I smiled as I recognised Tom's voice.

"Hey, Tom." I was thankful that I was speaking to him through a machine, because it was likely that the tone of my voice wouldn't be very clear at his end, meaning that he wouldn't know I'd been crying.

"You're at the bottom of the tower now, right?" He said.

"Yep." I pushed myself off of the wall and took a few unsteady steps away from the tower, my head pounding from all the crying.

"Was it worth going up there?" Tom continued.

_Oh god…_

"Um, yeah. Good views…" I said vaguely.

"You coming back now, then?" Tom asked.

"Yeah… I'll see you in a minute." I disconnected with him and shoved the box back in my pocket. I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds, scrunching them up against the slowly fading blue light that was far too similar to the eyes of the very person I was trying hard not to think about. I shook my head and sighed, starting to walk the path back to the main road with my jaw firmly set. However, as I was just about to leave the path and join the road, I heard a rustle behind me, accompanied by a sort of quiet _thud_. I stared back at the area for a couple of seconds, until something glinting in the light caught my eye. I started towards it, but once I realised what it was I stopped dead. The light of the dusk was reflecting dimly off of a deep red gemstone that was lying in the grass. I didn't physically look around the whole area after that, but I could see more and more similar glints of light in my peripherals as I realised what the Captain had done to the necklace- to _my_ necklace.

My necklace? Funny I should think of it that way, when I'd given it back to him to sell on. And indeed, a cold, humourless smile spread across my face as I turned around and began to walk up the path.

_But does this mean that he would rather have me than the money?_

_Of course not. He's just throwing a tantrum._

My smile got wider- and sadder- as I finally joined the main road, trying to forget the image of a thin golden chain looped carelessly around a leaf, and an ice blue gem nestled in the many blades of grass surrounding the path I'd just left.


	27. Bliss: 27

When I first started to actually walk, I had had no intention except to go back to my hotel room and have a good cry. But as I got closer and closer to the hotel, I realised that my plan was exactly the opposite of what I _really_ wanted. Going back to the hotel wouldn't mean privacy; I'd have Tom, Chris and Kelly on my back about where I'd been, was it nice, was I okay, why the hell was I crying…

I knew I wouldn't be able to handle all of that, so as I got to the high street I kept on going rather than turning down the road to the hotel. As soon as I passed the junction, my GSC beeped, as I knew it would.

I reluctantly flicked the switch.

"You said you were coming back." Tom's voice said stubbornly from the little black box.

"Yeah, well… it's a nice night, and… I fancied a bit more of a walk. I need to think." I replied, hoping he would just accept my explanation and leave me alone.

But of course, he didn't. "You need to think? Jess, you've been on your own for about two hours now, don't tell me you still-" I cut him off and threw the box to the floor. I could always get a new one in two days time when we finally boarded _Bliss_ again, although the Captain wouldn't be too happy, the one I'd had before that had only lasted…

That's where my thoughts ground to a halt, as _his_ face appeared in my mind again. The Captain. It seemed like every thought I had involved him in some way, or lead to one which did. Though my feet were still moving, carrying me along the deserted street, my mind was now firmly stuck in one place, on one person.

I wondered if he was reading my mind right now, seeing how frustrated I was at him, yet still unable to get him out of my head. I imagined him laughing at me, thinking me pathetic, and I mentally screamed out a string of obscenities at him, hoping he could hear. Immediately afterwards, however, I felt absolutely awful. Even worse than I had before. I felt so guilty, and so sad, that I couldn't bear to be on such a large street any more; it felt like there were a million people staring down disapprovingly at me all the while.

I took a sharp turn off to the left, onto a smaller and safer-feeling road. It, too, was deserted. I was glad about this, of course, but then I thought that I probably wouldn't mind much if a psychopath Lath suddenly decided to attack me- I felt pretty much suicidal anyway but it would also give me a chance to vent out some of my anger, my frustration, my sadness. I kept myself coldly amused for a minute or two, imagining what the poor Lath would look like after I was done with them. It was then that I realised that I'd managed to keep Matthew off of my mind for a whole three and a half minutes. I congratulated myself. But then the sadness hit me again as his face swam in my mind and before my tear-filled eyes, and I scolded myself for thinking of him as 'Matthew'. I'd said it myself; he was to be known as 'sir' or 'the Captain' now. No informalities, nothing to bring us close. Not again.

The whole scene on top of the tower was replaying itself over and over again in my head, and as I wandered aimlessly down the street I tried desperately to distract my thoughts, to think of something else. I took a right turn onto an even smaller street as images of the mangled Lath fantasy conflicted with flashes of _those_ blazing blue eyes in my mind. I had to distract myself from him somehow, and I already had the inspiration from my little distraction earlier, so I tried to replace the tower scene with the imaginary scene of me beating some random blonde up. However, to get it right, I found that I had to concentrate so hard that I couldn't do it without closing my eyes, and this meant I couldn't move any more in case I walked into something. I leant on a wall, screwing my eyes shut (which pushed a few more tears out), and replaying my imaginary scene over and over again, trying and trying to blank reality out, to blank everything out…

I could hear the running footsteps of the Lath as they tried to escape me… I could hear my running footsteps down the stairway of the tower- _no!_ The footsteps of the Lath, of the _Lath…_ The footsteps… of the… stairway…

I shouted out in frustration as the pounding footsteps in my head became overwhelmingly loud. They began to multiply, turning into three, four pairs of running footsteps, and in the end the noise got so loud that I wrenched my eyes open, to dissipate the fantasies, to have a bit of peace and quiet.

But even though the images disappeared, the footsteps didn't. In fact, I could now hear shouting- angry shouting. All of them were men's voices. I looked up and down the small alleyway I'd ended up in, but no one was to be seen. I was safe in that second, perhaps, but I couldn't tell where the footsteps were coming from or how close they were, so I knew I had to get out of there, fast. I couldn't remember which way I'd come- I'd been in such an upset state that I hadn't really been paying attention… did I turn right? No, it was left… or was it left off of the high street and right onto the alleyway? Or the other way round? I took a random guess and tiptoed along and around the corner of the alleyway, guessing that I'd entered the little lane by turning left… But as I went further on I knew I'd gone the wrong way, as the high street was nowhere to be seen. I began to panic.

I could still hear the footsteps but I had no idea how close they were. I did an about turn and hurried back up the road, but I eventually came to a dead end- no high street to be seen. I was feeling very claustrophobic with all the tall houses- about five storeys or so- towering above me, but I managed to sort my head out a little. I realised that I must have turned out of the wrong end of the alleyway. If I found it again and went down to the other side, I should be able to get to the high street, and back to the hotel. Armed with a plan, and really wishing I hadn't dropped my GSC, I cautiously made my way back along the road.

There was a bend in the road ahead of me, after which I knew I'd be able to turn onto the alleyway. I approached it carefully, really hoping that I wouldn't just walk straight in to whoever was running around the place. But by now it was very late, and very dark, and that meant that as I poked my head around the corner I didn't see the danger that was there. I crept along, keeping to the shadows, but even so there was no escaping what happened next.

A figure ran into me at full pelt and knocked me back into the wall. It hurt like hell, but I couldn't get away with my attacker's body pushing into me, trapping me. I was absolutely terrified, expecting a knife to be pressed to my neck or a gun to my head. But what I didn't expect was an apology.

"Shit, sorry, I-" He tilted his head back to look at me, but stopped mid-sentence once his eyes met mine. My heart skipped a beat.

"_Dom?_" I whispered. He didn't reply, but he didn't need to. I'd recognise that face anywhere, even in the dark, and even in the state it was in at the moment. And by state I mean _state_.

His usually silky blonde hair was sticking up in all directions, and some strands were coated in dirt. His once perfect skin was covered in thin red scratches, and one deep cut ran across his right cheek, from the corner of his mouth to the bottom of his ear. Some parts of his face were darker than others, but I couldn't tell if it was shadow, mud or bruises. His grey eyes were wide, reflecting the dim light coming from a window high above us, and his breathing was fast, as if he'd been running for a long way, for a long time.


	28. Bliss: 28

He was still trapping me against the wall as we stared at each other, too shocked to do anything. However, this didn't last for long, as the men began to shout again, and although I couldn't make out what they were saying I could tell that they were close. Dom's head whipped around, and I knew he was thinking the same thing.

"Oh god…" He half whispered, half whimpered. He sounded terrified. His body left mine but he stayed close, looking at me once more. He tentatively brought his hand up to my face, to stroke my cheek. "Y-you've got to help me… please…" He screwed his eyes shut and leant forwards so that his forehead was resting on mine. "They're gonna kill me…" He finished, reduced to a whisper.

I was still in a state of shock, but I registered his request and realised that we should probably get out of the light from the surrounding windows. Dim as they were, we could still be seen in our current position. I took his hand- the one that was on my cheek- and he lifted his head back and looked at me. I didn't say anything, but simply pulled him in the direction of the dead end I'd come to before. It had less light than where we were now, so it would be a good place for him to hide, and I couldn't think of anywhere better to go in case we bumped in to Dom's pursuers.

As soon as we were in the dark, Dom found a little alcove in the corner where he could sit down. He did so, but bent his knees and put his head in his hands, his elbows resting on his thighs. I squeezed in beside him.

"Why are they chasing you?" I said quietly.

"Dunno…" He mumbled, dragging his hands down his face. It didn't seem that he was going to say much more on the topic, but I didn't want to press him any further.

"Dom, you've just smeared blood all over yourself." I commented quietly, my eyes on the red streaks that were running down his face.

He looked at me as if to say 'are you _serious?_ My life right now can't possibly get any worse…', but when he saw my expression he groaned and whacked his head back against the wall. I winced for him; _he_ hadn't seemed to notice the pain, although the action had made a rather loud thud.

"Come here." I turned his head towards me with a touch to his chin, and began to wipe off some of the marks with a clean tissue I'd found in my pocket. His eyes sparkled in thanks. "What are you doing here, anyway?" I spoke softly; I didn't want us to be heard. "I thought you'd have taken one of the escape pods and flown off somewhere…" My mind drifted back to the last time I'd seen Dom, when the Captain had been telling him to 'get the hell off of my ship'.

"You okay?" Dom suddenly said, and I looked questioningly at him. "You…" He chose to answer with an action rather than words, and extended a finger to brush my cheek. When he showed it to me and I saw that it was shining with moisture I realised that I'd let another tear escape whilst thinking about the Captain.

A horrible pang of all kinds of negative emotions raced through me, but I swallowed them down and answered Dom. "I'm fine." I quickly resumed wiping his face, pretending nothing had happened.

"If you say so…" He replied, more to himself than to me. He didn't sound convinced, but he let it drop. "In answer to your question, I hid on the ship until we landed, then snuck off just after you'd all left." He winced as I brushed a particularly tender spot, and I pulled back. "It's ok, it's ok. Don't worry about that any more." He said, flashing a brilliant (yet pained) smile at me before turning to look out of our hidey-hole, and I just stared at him for a minute, wondering how on _Earth_ he could still manage to be _so_ attractive with all those scratches and bruises.

A moment of silence passed, in which we both listened out desperately for any sign of the running, shouting men. However, any noises we could hear were very faint, and we both started to relax a little.

"I thought you'd still be scared of me." Dom commented, turning to look at me. He smiled. "I'm impressed."

I stared at his gorgeous, gorgeous smile. "Why would I be scared of you?" I said.

"Um… because I have this weird habit of attacking you, taking all your energy and so forth, y'know…" The sarcasm was plain in his voice, and he was looking at me as if he was extremely surprised that I hadn't known the answer.

"Oh, shut up." I replied, not taking very well to being made a fool of. But then what he'd said hit me, as well as the memories that I seemed to have forgotten…

_Lying weak on the floor in the canteen…_

_Being held in Dom's arms whilst the ship rocked back and forth, my consciousness fading away…_

"Oh yeah…" I looked at him in alarm, shifting backwards slightly, away from the blonde.

"Jess, come on. Do you really think I'm about to attack you, now? Look at me." He gestured his cut and bruised face, and I saw his point.

"But you must be really weak, though. Surely a bit of my energy would be helpful?" I said, still holding my body away from him.

"Well, if you're offering…" He leant forwards, and I recoiled, but he chuckled. "I'm joking. It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you."

"Speaking of which, who was it that hurt _you_? Who _are_ those men?" I said, relaxing a little, but still wary.

"They're natives. I have no idea why, but they just jumped on me as I was walking along, and…" He pointed to his face. "I managed to fight them off though, but they've turned it into a kind of hunt. Like a _sport_." He said, sounding disgusted.

"What, for no reason whatsoever? Just… on a whim?" I asked, horrified.

"Yep." He sighed, and looked at me with those gorgeous grey puppy-dog eyes, and I found myself saying something that I hadn't thought through at _all_. Something that I now know I never should have said.

"Why don't you come back to the hotel for the night?" I realised I was closer to him than before. I must have moved subconsciously.

He raised his eyebrows, but didn't look too surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll have to hide you on the way up, though, if anyone sees you they'll tell-"

"Bellamy." He finished his sentence for me and I winced. He noticed. "You alright?"

"Yeah…"

"What's happened?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, tell me. It's something to do with the Captain, huh?" He said, scooting closer and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. I almost melted into him (how could he possibly be this warm on such a cold night?) but kept my eyes diverted, not wanting to relay the whole tower scene to him. And not only because I didn't really want him to know, either. Saying it out loud- hell, even thinking it through would just upset me again.

"Yeah, it is." I gave in to his questioning, hoping that he wouldn't ask further.

"Bastard." He muttered, squeezing me to his side. His nose brushed my temple as he looked at me. "You don't need him." He added, and although he didn't say it, the words _'when you've got me' _seemed to hang in the air. His other arm sneaked around my front to clasp the hand of the arm that rested behind me, now circling my waist rather than my shoulders.

I turned my head to look at him, and he smiled at me. Smiled such a warm, loving smile that I had to reciprocate, and in return he said softly "C'mere," and pulled me into his arms. It was a bit of an awkward position, to be honest, twisting myself round to lean into him, but in that moment, it felt like the most comfortable place in the world. If only I'd have looked up, and seen his smirk. His smirk of victory. Yep, he'd won me over, alright. But I was just sighing happily into his shoulder as he rubbed my back.

After a few minutes, he said tentatively, "shall we go then?" I nodded, and we both extracted ourselves from our little hidey-hole, and started off back towards the hotel. If I hadn't have been looking adoringly up at him the whole way, I might have noticed that the shouting had stopped. If he hadn't kept distracting me by 'accidentally' brushing his hand against mine, I would have noticed that there were no running footsteps any more. And as we eventually reached the entrance to the hotel, if it weren't for the dazzling smile that he kept flashing at me, I _should_ have noticed that something fishy was going on. We hadn't come across any nasty natives on our way, and we hadn't even been peering around corners and creeping in the shadows to avoid them, either. It couldn't just have been a coincidence that Dom's attackers had decided to call it a day at the same time we'd decided to go to the hotel, could it?

But I wasn't thinking about any of this. My next aim was to get Dom safely up to the seventh floor, and my hotel room, without any of the crew noticing anything. It was very late by now, and might even have been approaching very early, so I was hoping that everyone had gone to bed. But I was worried that Tom might've stayed up, waiting for me to come back after I'd cut him off on the GSC, so Dom and I crept as silently as we could past the double doors to the sixth floor.


	29. Bliss: 29

"This is your floor, yeah?" Dom whispered as we rounded the last corner of the staircase.

"Yeah, just through there." I indicated the double doors ahead of us. Dom pushed them open silently when we got there, and we made it halfway down the corridor without mishap. However, just outside Kelly's room I stepped on a creaky part of the floor, and both Dom and I froze as the sound chugged loudly through the air. We listened intently for any sign of someone waking up, but there were none. I carefully lifted my foot off of the offending floorboard, but just as I was about to sigh with relief, Alfie Wolstenholme, resident baby of Kelly's room, began to cry.

"Shit!" I hissed, pushing Dom ahead of me and into my room, swiftly yet quietly closing the door once we were both inside.

"Well, that was a close-" Dom began, but I interrupted.

"Get in the wardrobe!"

"Excuse me?"

"In- the- wardrobe!" I accompanied each word with a firm push to the back of his shoulders, and I eventually had him inside the wardrobe.

Dom looked furiously bemused. "D'you want to explain _why_-"

"No!" I said through gritted teeth, and closed the doors. "Just stay in there until I tell you to come out!"

"I really don't-"

"And _be quiet!_" I finished, bounding across the room and jumping into my bed, covering myself with the duvet.

My motives for these strange actions were this:

Little Alfie was very noisy.

Little Alfie's noisiness would have been very likely to wake someone up, _or_ alert someone who was _already awake_ that something was going on.

This person who had already been awake may have opened their door to see what on Earth was going on, and consequently this person who was already awake might have seen me disappear into my room.

The fact that this person had seen me disappearing into my room may have made them wonder _why_ I had chosen such a ridiculous time (11:56pm to be precise) to do so.

This might have made the person want to come and investigate, and if the person _had_ come to investigate, they might have opened the door to find Dominic Howard in my room, and I doubt this would have made the person very happy.

Forunately, because of my actions, these things didn't happen.

(By the way, did I mention that I'd assumed the 'person who was already awake' mentioned above to be the Captain? No? Well, I thought you'd work it out.)

And indeed, from my hiding place under the duvet I heard the unmistakeable (yet slightly muffled) sound of someone carefully opening the door to my room. I knew who it was immediately, because if it were Tom he would have barged straight in, if it were Chris he would have knocked or called my name, and I could tell from the breathing that it wasn't Kelly. I doubted anyone other than those three or the Captain would come to my room at this time of night. My observations, coupled with the 'motives' that I've already mentioned, therefore came together to form the conclusion that it was Matthew Bellamy who currently stood, silent and still, in my open doorway.

Phew. I hope all of that made sense. If not, just read the last 14 words of that last sentence.

I remained as still as I possibly could, listening to the sound of him breathing in and out in the silence. I was extremely aware of Dom, who was still hidden in my wardrobe, and found myself almost praying that the Captain wouldn't find him. However, from what I could hear, Bellamy wasn't moving. I hadn't heard the door close either, so I guessed that he was just standing in the doorway, watching. He kept breathing in and holding his breath for a few seconds before releasing it heavily, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.

After what seemed like days, the Captain finally make a sound. I thought at first that he was going to leave without a word, but then he breathed "I'm sorry…", and my eyes flew open under the darkness of the duvet. I hadn't been expecting that, I thought he'd still be just as angry with me as he'd been on top of the tower. I heard the door click shut but I didn't move. I had far too much to think about.

Unfortunately, any thoughts I were mulling over were soon interrupted by a sudden cold rush of air that was quickly replaced by-

"Dom!"

"Bloody sentimental fucker. Yes?" Dom said, tucking himself in to the bed beside me.

"Don't talk about him like that." I frowned. "And when did I say you could sleep in my bed?"

"Well…" He was trying not to smile. "You didn't exactly _say_ it…" I nodded when he proved my point, but he quickly came back with a retort, pointing to his face, "oh come on, I'm injured! I deserve a proper rest!"

I glanced at his face, trying to ignore the satisfied and amused expression that was there. For a second, I thought I'd gone mad, because I was pretty sure that Dom suddenly had much _fewer_ cuts than before, but I managed to convince myself that I mustn't have looked properly when we were outside, and it had been dark then, anyway.

"Well… alright, then. But I'm going to sleep now, okay?" I said, huffing and turning around so I was facing away from him. But before I did so, I glanced at the digital time display on the opposite wall out of habit, and realised that it was

**Saturday**

_00:11._

"Happy morning, Dom…" I murmured as I finally lay down.

He didn't reply, and I felt him shift around a little but he soon stilled. I closed my eyes and sighed softly.

X_X

My eyes flickered open and I found myself staring at the burning red numbers of the time display on the wall opposite my bed.

_03:13_

I groaned and rolled over, desperate for more sleep. I felt myself slowly drifting out of consciousness, but I didn't quite make it all the way. A cold rush of air washed over me once more and I felt someone climbing into bed beside me. In all my sleepiness I'd quite forgotten about everything that had happened last night, so I sat bolt upright and confronted the mystery person.

"Um… Jess? D'you mind?" Dom said, removing my hand from around his neck.

"Oh, um… sorry." I blushed, the memories rushing back. I was just about to mumble something about getting back to sleep when I noticed something strange. "Dom?"

"What?"

"Why is your hand all covered in blood?" I reached out to touch it but he pulled it away.

"I got beaten up last night, remember?" He said irritably. "Go back to sleep."

"Oh. Oh yeah." I said, lying down again, feeling a bit disgruntled.

"God, you're stupid…" Dom muttered as he turned over. At least, that's what I thought he'd said. The rustle of the sheets moving whilst he'd turned had muffled his words slightly, but I confronted him all the same.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" He didn't turn back around to face me.

"What you just said."

"Didn't say anything."

"Yes you did! You said, 'you're stupid'!" I frowned, pouting slightly. I was not impressed by such an immature insult and thought it deserved an immature reaction.

But instead of Dom trying to cover his rudeness up and continuing to deny that he'd spoken (as I thought he would've done), he just laughed. Laughed, and turned over to face me.

"You know what? I actually said 'God, you humans'. But bloody hell, I might as well have called you stupid! Seriously…" He shook his head, looking me up and down.

I was very offended, but something sounded off. "What do you mean, 'you _humans_'?" I frowned as he propped himself up on one elbow, a mocking smile on his face.

"You mean you haven't worked it out yet? Your precious _Captain_ hasn't told you?" He snorted.

"Worked _what_ out?" I was getting annoyed now.

He just stared disbelievingly at me for a second, and then shook his head. "By 'you humans', I mean '_you _humans'." He paused for a second, but I didn't speak. The meaning of his words was finally beginning to dawn on me. "Do you _really_ think that an _unintelligent_ ape like you would have the capabilities that I do? Have _you_ ever met a human being that can suck the life-energy out of someone?" He paused, but I sensed that he wasn't waiting for an answer, so I stayed silent. "Exactly. You haven't. No human in the universe could do what I do, think like I think, let alone look _this_ good." He glanced down at himself as he spoke, and to be honest I could see his point. "You're pathetic, the lot of you. Don't insult me by thinking I'm human, Jess. 'Cause I'm not." His face was very close to me now, his nose almost touching mine. He seemed to have finished his monologue, and just stared straight into my eyes, unblinking.

"O-okay." I breathed, my eyes wide. He smiled.

"Good." He drew back a little, his anger and frustration gone, replaced by an unnerving aura of confidence. "Now, I'm _starving_, so if you don't mind…" he stroked a finger lightly down my cheek, but then his eyes flashed maliciously and he dived down upon me, sealing his mouth to mine in a greedy, all-consuming kiss.


	30. Bliss: 30

I died. Literally. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. My mind was absolutely torn in two: on the one hand I'd been wanting to kiss this man for _so_ long, he was absolutely _gorgeous _and _hot_ and _sexy_ and just plain yum. But on the other hand… he'd just confessed to me that he was in fact an alien, and the kiss wasn't really a kiss at all, from what I'd gathered when he said 'I'm starving'. And the fact that I was slowly getting weaker and weaker was a dead giveaway to the danger I was in, too.

I fought the uncomfortable, weak feeling, pushing against Dom with all my physical and mental might, but he was far too strong for me and there was nothing I could do. I was trapped, panicking and terrified as he slowly kissed the life out of me.

My thoughts in that moment followed a strange path.

_God, he's an _excellent_ kisser…_

_Am I going to die?_

_Who's going to find my body?_

_Shit, when he moves his lips like that…_

_Maybe I'll just end up in a coma._

_There's nothing I can do, anyway, and no-one to help me._

_Mr. Howard, if you do that with your tongue again I might just faint._

_Shit! The Captain! __Matthew__!_

And at that moment, when I remembered the one thing that could save me, I found a sort of uncanny strength within myself and managed to push Dom away from me. Only a little bit, mind, but enough so that our lips broke contact.

"Had enough?" He raised an eyebrow. I most definitely did _not_ think about how damn sexy he looked when he did that.

"Please, Dom… just stop!" I breathed, not having enough energy left for proper speech. As I spoke, however, I was sending out mental cries of help to the man who, not so long ago, had whispered me an apology from my open doorway. I just hoped the Captain would hear…

"Mmm…" Dom ran his lips along my cheekbone. "But I'm not full yet…"

"Just… please… I…" I couldn't think of anything to say, distracted with my efforts to summon the Captain through thought. I just needed to stall Dom for a little longer; Matthewsurely wouldn't take _that_ long…

"Just? Just? Just?" Dom repeated, mocking me as his lips ran over the shell of my ear. "Just no." He brought his head back so he was looking straight into my eyes. Neither of us said anything for a couple of seconds. I was still concentrating on the Captain; Dom seemed to be concentrating on staring me to death, although I don't think he was taking any energy from me at that point. But as he stared at me, in me, through me, my focus on the Captain slowly waned and I found myself noticing something strange.

"Dom… your face…" I whispered. I considered reaching a hand out to touch his cheek, but decided against it, not knowing what the reaction would be.

"What about it?" He asked, looking genuinely puzzled.

"It's… better… no scratches or cuts or bruises or… anything…" I continued, peering up at him and blinking a few times to check I'd got it right. But Dom's skin was as perfect as ever, not a blemish to be seen, let alone a scratch.

"Is it? Ah, that's good; I thought it'd take longer than that. I heal quickly when I take in energy." He said, perfectly nonchalantly, as if we were having a normal conversation, but I was terrified. What _was_ this man? Was he a man at all? Dom caught sight of my expression and sniggered. "Ah, I know what you're doing…" He said softly, looking straight into my eyes. "You're calling out to your Captain, aren't you?"

I don't know how he knew, but my first instinct was to steer the conversation away from the Captain immediately, so I'd have more time to alert him to my dilemma. "Um… Dom? Why is the blood still on your hand… i-if your face got better?"

He raised his eyebrows before glancing down at his hand, which was still caked in drying blood. "Ah… well…" He paused for a minute, and then smiled to himself. "Have you considered the possibility that this blood isn't mine?"

Immediately, all sorts of horrible images flew into my mind. Dom obviously meant that he'd hurt someone, but who? Not Kelly, surely, he'd never really met her… and Chris had never done anything to Dom, so it couldn't be Chris' blood on Dom's hand… but what about Tom? No, it couldn't be… I went through the list of everyone I loved, finding reasons why Dom couldn't possibly have attacked them. But there was one person that I was worried about. One person that Dom had _every_ reason to have drawn blood from.

"Yeah, I dealt with Bellamy." Dom said, pride lacing delicately through his words. It was like he'd read my mind, and I shuddered as the possibility of a mind-reading Dom suddenly seemed more realistic. "That's where I'd been when you woke up; that's why I was getting back into bed at 3 in the morning." He chuckled to himself. "You didn't even ask me where I'd been, _or_ why…" He shook his head. "Seriously…"

"Oh god… what did you do to him?" I whispered, glancing at his hand again.

Dom smirked. "Let's just say… he's in a bad way." He reached the bloodied hand- his left- up to my face, brushing his fingertips over my temple. I winced and recoiled, but I was trapped under his weight and couldn't move very far. "He's not gonna hear you calling to him… so I wouldn't bother." Dom whispered the last part, his smile growing ever wider.

I couldn't say a word, too distraught to think, let alone speak. My eyes were tightly screwed shut and my head turned to one side, pushing against Dom's chest with my hands to try and get him off.

Dom just laughed at my feeble attempts; he'd taken a fair amount of energy from me already. He ran the tip of his tongue down my jaw and around to my chin before brushing my bottom lip. "Now." His hand gently tilted my head so I was facing him, and he whispered, "Open your eyes."

I didn't comply, screwing them up even tighter.

"Go on…" He placed the pads of his thumbs on my eyelids and tried to raise them, but I shook him off.

"Dom! Please, just leave me alone…" I was close to tears by now, and my voice was nothing more than a whimper.

He didn't react as I thought he might. I heard him sigh, but when he spoke he sounded like his confidence had gone. "You know what… However y-y- I…" He sighed again, but it sounded more like a release of tension than a sign that he was fed up. "You deserve this." He took my head in his hands and forced me to face him, although I kept my eyes shut. "Fuck…" He said, and kissed me again.

I was utterly confused at Dom's suddenly unsure demeanour, but as I felt myself slipping away my panic quickly overwhelmed my uncertainty and I descended into terror. There was nothing I could do to stop him this time; not even thinking of the Captain gave me the extra strength I needed to push Dom off of me. I was slowly fading away, completely helpless. After a while I stopped resisting Dom and felt my body relax under him. It wasn't voluntary; I simply didn't have enough energy left to keep tensed up.

Just as I resigned myself to the fact that this was it, the end, Dom stopped. He took his lips completely off of mine and I was able to stay conscious. But only just. I didn't trust Dom enough to think that he'd stopped out of mercy, so I managed (with tremendous effort) to turn my head and take in the rest of the room.

The door had been flung open. Dom was staring intently at it, and as I watched, a figure walked- no, _limped_ into the room.

"Bellamy." Dom said, his eyes narrowing.

"Howard." Was the reply. Matthew's voice was strong, but that was more than could be said for his body. His face was bruised badly on the right side, and he had an almighty black eye forming. He had a split lip and it had bled onto his chin, the drying crimson exactly the same colour as the blood on Dom's fist. He was bent over slightly as if he'd been winded, and one of his legs shook each time he put weight on it, suggesting a twisted ankle. His arms, however, were the strongest part of him at that moment, and not just because of the lack of injury to them. Both limbs were pointing straight at Dom, and clutched between his two hands was a gun.


	31. Bliss: 31

It was unlike any space gun I'd seen before. Sleek red and black, it was an elongated ovoid with a small handle at the back. Matthew's finger lingered on the red button at the front of the handle, prepared to shoot.

"Get the fuck off of her." He spat, jerking the gun to the side to indicate what he wanted Dom to do.

Dom stayed exactly where he was. His eyes roamed over Matthew's body, taking in every injury. When his line of sight connected with Matthew's once more, he smiled.

"You look utterly pathetic." Dom sneered.

"I swear… I'll fucking shoot you if you d-don't get off of her _right_ now." Matthew's voice faltered at several points in the sentence. I noticed his arms were shaking.

Dom still didn't move. I was frozen in place, not only because of Dom's weight pushing down on me but because the tension in the room was so high.

"That gun." Dom's eyes narrowed. "Is that what I think it is?"

"You know very well what it is." Matthew took a step towards the bed, utter loathing on his face.

"Where did you get _that_ from?" Dom said, his eyes fixed on the weapon.

Matthew smiled. "I know what you're trying to do. I'm not stupid, Howard, you won't distract me." His throat bobbed as he swallowed. "Leave her alone. Leave all of them alone. You don't have to do this! You can live a perfectly peaceful, healthy life-"

"Don't fucking _lecture_ me, Bellamy." Dom suddenly got up and walked purposefully over to Matthew. He got so close that the gun was pressed into his chest, but he didn't seem bothered. "It's my life. You have _no_ idea what it's like." He inched closer, forcing Matthew to bend his elbows and draw the gun back towards his body. Dom glanced down at it and smirked. "And as for this thing…" He smiled to himself, before stepping back and holding his arms out. "Shoot me. Go on. Fucking shoot me!"

Matthew looked bewildered, but was still pointing the gun strongly at Dominic. "You're utterly mad."

Dom smiled. "Maybe I am." His eyes flicked from the gun to Matthew's face. "Shoot me, Bellamy."

Matthew shook his head in disbelief. "Well… I suppose… this is for Paul." His finger tightened over the button.

Dom's eyes narrowed.

Matthew pushed the trigger button.

Dom raised an eyebrow.

Matthew pushed the button again.

Dom smiled.

And again.

Dom smirked.

And again.

Dom began to laugh, and I was utterly amazed as Matthew dropped the gun and joined in, albeit bitterly.

"Very good. A fake?"

"Yep. Did you really think they'd have real ones in a shitty tourist town like this?" Dom sounded utterly relaxed and in control of the situation. The funny thing was, so did Matthew.

It was like I wasn't in the room. The two men were talking like they were old friends, and I was lying forgotten and weak on the bed, a reminder of the tension and terror that had existed in the room only minutes ago.

"Fair point." Matthew glanced at the fake gun and smiled resentfully. "You got me there."

Dom smirked. "Don't mess with things that are too big for you, _Matthew_." He said, almost seductively.

The Captain raised an eyebrow. "I will if I need to, _Dominic_."

Dom chuckled and nodded in Matthew's direction, an almost respectful gesture. I couldn't tell if it was mocking or sincere. "Well, time for me to go, I suppose."

"Mmm." Matthew replied, all the laughter gone from his face. He regarded Dominic carefully. "And don't you dare come back."

Dom raised his eyebrows at the Captain's sudden sincerity. "It's all very well saying that to _me_, Bellamy, but you know very well that I'm one of thousands." He started walking towards the window, glancing at the fragments of wood that still lay there from when someone had ripped the boards off yesterday. "My handiwork." Dom admitted, pointing carelessly at the mess. "I'd intended to get in through here tonight, but then one of my spies spotted Jess walking back from the watch tower and I organised the whole 'chase' thing." He turned around and looked at me. I could feel the Captain's gaze on me as well.

_Please Matthew, just get him out of here._

"Let him have his moment." The Captain murmured so only I could hear, and I sighed, preparing myself for whatever Dom's 'moment' would contain.

"Did you realise that those men running around and shouting weren't after me at all?" Dom smirked. "I doubt you did, you were so wound up in my _gorgeousness_…"

Matthew sniffed disapprovingly. I could feel myself blushing.

"They were _my_ men. I let them rough me up a bit, as if I'd been in a fight, then I told them to make as if they were chasing me. The rest was down to my _incredible_ acting skills. You fell for it quite spectacularly, Jess." He winked at me.

I didn't have to look to know that Matthew was frowning. "Alright Dom, that's enough." He said. I sent out a stream of mental thanks to him, but he wasn't looking at me any more so I couldn't tell what his reaction was.

Dom was smirking again. "If you say so, _Captain_." He put one foot on the windowsill and leaned on his raised knee. It was the kind of position I would've formerly found devastatingly attractive, but I told myself that this was _Dominic Howard_, the man who had attacked me numerously, the man who had ridiculed and embarrassed me, and suddenly he wasn't so attractive any more. I looked away from him and found my eyes resting on Matthew, who was beaming at me.

_Why're you so… happy?_

He down-graded his grin to a small smile at my thought-question, and shook his head. I sighed. This would mean yet _another_ question I'd have to ask him later. I already had a super-long list, ranging from the tiniest things to subjects that could completely change my world. And he was going to answer them _all,_ whether he wanted to or not.

"See you, then." Dom said, his tone of voice a little on the _'why isn't everyone's attention on me?'_ side.

Matthew didn't reply. I found myself wondering how Dom was going to escape out of a seventh-floor window, but decided that with everything that had happened over the past few hours, I'd just have to accept that it was possible.

And it seemed to be so, for Dom (who looked slightly disappointed that no one was trying to stop him) swiftly propelled himself out of the window and into the darkness of the morning.

As soon as he was gone the Captain let out a huge sigh, his smile swiftly disappearing. He looked around the room for a couple of minutes, and I could see tiredness and grief showing on his face. Then he finally looked at me, and whispered my name. He started to walk slowly towards the bed, but as he got closer he got faster, and by the time he'd reached me and pulled me to him he was almost running. He held me tightly, but didn't say a word. I got the feeling that there was a lot he wanted to say, but he couldn't work out how to say it, or what to say first, so he kept quiet.

Eventually he laid me down and sat back, looking at me, staring into my eyes with those sapphires of his. He opened his mouth and took a breath in, and I could tell he was about to speak, but then he closed his mouth and exhaled slowly. He did this a couple of times before screwing his eyes shut and wiping his hand over his face. When he was done he stared at the blood that was now smeared on his hand, and said, "I look a state."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement, said with the kind of bitter voice that you'd expect someone to use just before bursting into tears. I realised he could see what he looked like through my mind, and it must have been hurting him.

"I'm going to go and clean up." He stared at me and my gaze found its way back to his. "And then I'm going to come back, and-" He was speaking quickly, forcefully, but he stopped himself. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, composing himself. "-and tell you everything."

I could see the difficulty he was having with what to say and how to say it, and his eyes bored into mine as he searched for the right words. In the end he gave up and bolted, muttering a quick "I'll be two minutes" as he rushed out of the room.

I closed my eyes, wondering just what he'd meant by '_everything'._


	32. Bliss: 32

He didn't take long. When he came back he was wearing different clothes, and all the blood was gone. His hair was damp too; making me suspect that he'd taken a full shower instead of just splashing a little water like I'd expected him to. However, as he got closer I could see that the bruises were still there, his black eye had grown blacker, and his left leg still shook a little when he stood on it.

He hobbled wordlessly to the bed and sat on the edge, his right knee turned out and resting on the mattress, with his right ankle tucked underneath his left knee.

"Hey." He whispered, gazing into my eyes. He seemed a lot calmer now, and I was glad. While he'd been gone I'd been having all sorts of arguments with myself, wondering if he was angry with me, wondering if I'd done anything wrong, telling myself that he wouldn't give me any energy back and I'd be stuck like this forever… now, though, I felt just as calm as he looked, and if I'd have had enough energy, I would've smiled.

He looked searchingly at me for a few seconds, and then tucked his right arm underneath my shoulders, hoisting me up into an almost-sitting position. He leant back against the headboard and slid me up beside him so I was lying on my left side, tipped up from the waist with my head resting on his right shoulder. He bent his arm behind my neck and twisted his body around so his chest was facing mine and my head was nestled in the crook of his elbow. He smiled at me and leant in, shifting around a little.

"Let's get you better, hmm?" He said softly, stroking my cheek with his fingertips. I gave a mental affirmative, and he leant in a little more, gently brushing his lips against mine twice before kissing me properly.

I died, once again. The contrast between Matthew and Dom was incredible; they were so different yet both absolutely _incredible_ kissers.

After a few moments of absolute bliss (and I will admit, surprise that Captain Bellamy- a man I used to hate and have never seen as a romantic or sexy being- was suddenly being so loving and _passionate_), he stopped. I lost his lips but his nose and forehead were still touching mine.

"You know, Jess…" He pulled back a little more and bit his lip. "I've been around for a _long_ time, but I've never…"

_Never _what?_ Never kissed such a gorgeous woman? Never fallen in love his badly? Never wanted anyone so much as I want you?_

"…kissed anyone before…" he finished, looking at me curiously.

I blushed as I registered how unbearably _cute_ it was that I was his first kiss. I double blushed when I realised how ridiculous all my previous thoughts had been. I triple blushed when I realised that he would have heard said thoughts, which was probably the reason for the strange look on his face.

I still couldn't quite speak properly because of my low energy level, but I was able to manage a whisper. "_Seriously_? You've never kissed… _anyone_-_ How_ old are you?" I tried to cover up _my_ embarrassment by humiliating_ him. _A weak move, I know, but to be fair I was still pretty weak at that point.

"Uh, Jess? Try not to be so narrow-minded, will you? Where I come from its perfectly normal not to… er, be _involved_ with someone until you're _quite_ ready." He said, sounding quite affronted.

"Sorry, it's just… you know." I said, lamely. "But… how old _are_ you, anyway? I've always wondered…" Which was true. I wanted to take a guess, maybe 27, 28? But I didn't want to get it wrong, so I kept that to myself.

"27?" He exclaimed. "I _don't_ think so!"

My eyes widened. "I _wish_ you'd stop reading my mind when I _don't want you to!_"

"Am I _allowed_ to read your mind and correct you when your thoughts are categorically _wrong_?" He retorted, and I could tell he was still stung about my guess at his age.

"Well, what are you, then? Twenty four?" I hazarded another guess, thinking there was no way he could be any younger than 24 _or_ older than 27. But instead of correcting me, he just sighed.

"Look. I-" He closed his eyes and leaned forwards, resting his forehead on mine. "We'll get on to my age later, yeah? When you're better." He looked into my eyes. "'Kay?"

"But-"

"Shh!" He smiled and silenced me with a short kiss. "Later."

He kissed me again, but for longer this time, and it was so good that all I could manage was a breathy "okay…" before I let him continue.

A couple of minutes later, I felt completely normal again. I knew my strength was back, because I was using it. The fingers on my right hand had entangled themselves in Matthew's raven hair, and I was using my other arm, which was around his waist, to push myself into him. And somehow, my right leg had bent over both of his, and I was kind of half-on-top-of-him-half-next-to-him as I kissed him.

I don't want to sound like I was forcing myself onto him, mind. He was kissing me back with just as much vigour, his right arm holding me tightly around my waist whilst his left hand alternated between gently caressing my face and strongly holding the back of my head. I swear he even bucked his hips a little, but that might've been wishful thinking. All in all… well, I was in heaven.

And then he stopped, and held his lips teasingly open over mine. I tried to carry on kissing him, but he tilted his head downwards and I ended up kind of slurping his upper lip, which was a little embarrassing.

"Jessica Wolstenholme." He said, smiling. His eyes were still shut.

"Matthew Bellamy." I opened my eyes and moved my right hand to the side of his face, turning him to look at me. He opened his eyes.

"You have been at full health for about five minutes now. And you know it." He smirked. "I really can't let this kissing lark go on for much longer."

My voice was very breathy when I answered back to his mock admonishment. "Well I'm sorry, but I think it's partly your fault." I stroked my thumb down his cheek and he raised his eyebrows.

"_My_ fault?"

"Yeah, if you weren't so damn…" I trailed off, not knowing which words to use.

_Gorgeous? Hot? Goodatkissing? Sexyashell? _

He chuckled. "Alright, alright, I accept _some_ of the blame for being so utterly _irresistable_. But don't deny yourself any credit." He looked away, still smiling. "You made it very difficult for me to stop."

I just grinned. After everything that'd happened, who would've thought that I'd find myself snogging the face off of Captain Matthew Bellamy and _enjoying it_?

He sat up a bit, pulling his arm out from around my waist and using it to hoist himself up into more of an upright sitting position on the bed. I very nearly pouted when his warmth left me.

He looked down at me and smiled kindly. "C'mere, you." He said, holding out his arms. I sat up and leant back on him and he wrapped his arms around my belly. I snuggled my face into his neck and made a little sound of contentment, to which he kissed the top of my head in return. "Well, this is weird…" He murmured.

"What's weird?" I sighed, far too comfortable to move.

"Us getting along so well." He laughed quietly to himself, and then looked down at me. "Do you forgive me for all the shit I've put you through?"

"What shit?" I looked up at him. Our noses were almost touching.

He smiled. "Just say yes."

I smiled back. "Alright then, yes. I forgive you."

"Thank you." He whispered, and leant down to peck me on the lips.

"And you? For all the shit _I've_ put _you_ through?" I said.

He frowned. "What shit?"

"My point exactly." I said, and we both laughed.

"I forgive you." He nodded, and looked up, out of the window. I leant against his collarbone and looked in the same direction. The sky was beginning to lighten; the time display on the wall read _05:24_. Everything outside was bathed in a deep purple light as the heavens began to change colour from black to blue, and there were tiny wisps of grey cloud floating around in the morning's gradual crescendo.

Matthew hummed contentedly into the top of my head, and I sighed and closed my eyes.

"You were going to tell me… everything." I said quietly.

"I was." He replied.

"You think now might be a good time?"

He smiled. "There's just… a lot to say. All in mixed up orders of time and importance."

"Just start from the beginning, that's always easiest." I sighed.

There was a pause before he spoke again. "No. No, I don't think I will." He took a deep breath and said, "d'you mind if I… start at the end, and… work my way backwards?"

I looked up at him, frowning.

"I promise it'll be easier." He said, and his expression reassured me.

"Okay then. Am I… am I allowed to ask questions?"

"Whenever you want. But if you go off on one and it interrupts the chronological order I won't be happy." He replied, and it took me a couple of seconds to hear the sarcasm in his voice.

"Fine, fine. Get on with it, then."

"Manners, Jess!"

"Oh, shut up."

"I'll have to ask you to bear in mind that I am higher in authority than you-"

"I don't really care. Get on with it. _Sir_."

"Eugh." He screwed up his face, which wasn't very attractive.

"What?"

"Please don't call me sir when we're having a conversation like this, it sounds weird. Stick to Matthew."

"Alright then. Can I call you Matt?" I looked up at him hopefully.

"Oh god, no!" He exclaimed, and I stored away the knowledge that Matthew _really didn't _like being called Matt. I could definitely use that information, somewhere along the line…

"Plotting to annoy me, are we?" He said, digging his fingers into my ribs.

"Hey!" I wriggled away and turned around to face him. "Will you please stop stalling and get on with this big explanation of yours?"

"Only if you come back here _right_ now."

I did, huffing in fake annoyance as I settled comfortably against his chest.

"Alright then. Here we go…" He sighed. "I suppose I'll start with-"

And I'll stop there, because I need to explain something.


	33. Bliss: 33

Matthew and I talked for hours and hours, until the sky was fully light and we were well into what could comfortably be called late morning. I'm not about to recount absolutely everything we said or did, because that would take far too long and you'll get all the important stuff mixed up with the bits that are just me and him messing around and, well… flirting. So I'll cut the unimportant bits down to a brief explanation, if that's quite alright. All the information you need to know will still be there, but in easier, bite size chunks. Don't you just love me?

Okay. Back to _05:28_ on a certain Saturday morning.

"I suppose I'll start with my face."

"Your face?"

"Look at it."

I did. "It's lovely." 'Lovely' was not quite my first choice of adjective, but I didn't want to seem too eager.

He smirked. "Any signs that I've been… I don't know, beaten up recently?"

There was then a lot of realisation as I noticed that his face was in fact absolutely back to normal, no sign of the split lip or bruises or black eye. The rest of his body was in a similar healthy state. I pointed this out and he congratulated me like I was a small child, which then sparked off a lot of annoyance on my part and insult tennis between the two of us. But eventually Matthew decided to explain.

"I heal quickly when I give you energy."

Alarm bells started to ring in my mind. "Wait. Dom said something like that… he said… he heals quickly when he _takes in_ energy. You haven't…"

"Of course not. But I'm glad you recognised the similarity, it'll help you to understand this whole situation a little more fully later on."

He was talking very seriously and I felt a bit out of my depth, especially when he asked me if I had 'any questions?' before moving on. It was like a lecture.

"Ok, next is… remember when I randomly grinned at you? This is when Dom was still here…" He said, and I nodded. "Ok, well that was because I heard you thinking about Dom, and how he _would've_ been attractive at that moment if he hadn't just attacked you and all that. Remember?"

_Erm... kind of... something along the lines of..._

_He put one foot on the windowsill and leaned on his raised knee. It was the kind of position I would've formerly found devastatingly attractive, but I told myself that this was _Dominic Howard_, the man who had attacked me numerously, the man who had ridiculed and embarrassed me, and suddenly he wasn't so attractive any more. I looked away from him and found my eyes resting on Matthew, who was beaming at me._

"Yeah, I remember…" I said as the memory rushed through my mind. "So why did that make you so happy? Was it because you knew you didn't have any competition any more?" I said, winking.

He blushed and stuttered quite a lot then, denying away. But he eventually composed himself.

"Dom's species, they have a certain… attractiveness to their prey. They look good, you want them, you're easy to pull in, and it's less trouble for them to feed. I was happy because you were finally resisting that pull. I was impressed… I still am. It's not easy to resist, especially on a planet full of them…"

I picked up on his last point, and he revealed that Dom was infact a Lath (hence the blonde hair), and _that_ was why all those crew members had disappeared- we were on a planet full of Laths, some of whom had obviously got a little hungry with a whole building full of humans so close. But as the Captain said, "they (the Laths) _did_ sign a thingamabob saying they _wouldn't_ attack anyone, so they really shouldn't have. I shall be having… words with them."

I then asked him why he hadn't gone out to save the missing crew members, to restore their energy like he'd done for me so many times, but he shrugged the question off, saying he 'wasn't able to' and he'd 'explain it more later'. I was beginning to wonder whether any of this 'explaining later' would actually happen, as many of the crucial points to my understanding were missing, and Matthew seemed loath to reveal any of them.

He felt the discomfort and confusion in my mind, and said, "You know I told you that all of these things were mixed up in order of importance and time?" I nodded. "Well, I mean exactly that. Some of the things I'm telling you won't make sense until I'm completely finished. I decided to tell you in time order rather than importance order simply so I didn't forget anything, and I decided to go backwards because a lot of things have happened recently that I want to get out of the way before going on to the bigger, older stuff. I pwomise I _will_ tell you everything."

"You said pwomise again; you haven't done that for _ages_!" I said, grinning and pinching his cheek.

A bit more blushing happened then on Matthew's part, followed by more insult tennis which lead on to heavy flirting and _almost_ another kiss, but Matthew stopped us before our lips touched. I wasn't happy.

Anyway, Matthew's next 'point on the agenda' was the space gun. He began to go into a very detailed explanation but I stopped him.

"Hey- correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you've missed out a large part of this explanation." I said, pulling his arms tighter around me; the air coming in through the gaping hole where the window used to be was unusually chilly for this planet.

"Have I? What's that, then?" He asked.

"You and Dom."

"What about us?"

"You were _blatantly_ flirting after you worked out the gun was a fake."

"_We were not!_" He shoved me away from him in disapproval, but I knew what I'd seen, and I replayed the scene in my head, hoping he'd see it there and be reminded.

"_Very good. A fake?" _

"_Yep. Did you really think they'd have real ones in a shitty tourist town like this?"_

"_Fair point. You got me there."_

"_Don't mess with things that are too big for you, Matthew."_

"_I will if I need to, Dominic."_

I kept staring at Matthew with raised eyebrows, repeating those last two sentences in my mind. Eventually he sighed and said, "All right. We were a little… chatty, I suppose. But it wasn't flirting!"

"It so was."

"It really wasn't."

"Um... yesitwas."

This set us off on a little play-fight in which I discovered _just_ how ticklish Matthew was, and he eventually admitted (after a lot of torture to his poor, sensitive, ticklish feet) that yes, maybe they had been flirting a little, and yes, he _was_ good-looking enough for Dom to try and make a move on him. But he refused point-blank to agree with me on how attractive Dom was, even _without_ the blonde's magical 'attractiveness powers' at work, so I eventually gave up and snuggled up to him once more. Anyway, I digress.


	34. Bliss: 34

(Just to make the image of this next scene a bit clearer in your minds, Matthew was now lying flat on his back and I was draped diagonally across him on my front, my ankles hanging off of the bed and my elbows propping me up either side of his head.)

"So. This gun. You looked really macho with it, by the way." I said, absent-mindedly playing with a strand of Matthew's hair.

"Kindly shut your face, Jess."

"Okay. Sorry."

He sighed softly. "The gun is a pretty important part in all of this. Probably the most important. It's called a Lamarénea."

The word sounded exotic and strange, and that was saying something as I'd heard plenty of different languages on my travels through space. Maybe it was the way Matthew said it, the almost-whisper of his voice, the slight roll of the r, or just how natural it sounded coming from his lips. He said it as 'Lah-ma-REY-nya', with the 'REY' part being the emphasized syllable. I found it utterly intriguing. What I didn't realise was that I'd just heard Matthew speak in his mother tongue for the first time.

He continued to describe the Lamarénea. "It was designed to… rid the likes of Dom of his powers. If it had been real, and I'd have shot him, he would have instantly become human. We're… I mean they're… the Laths, you know…" He seemed to lose his thread a little, but I didn't interrupt. "Laths are really rather similar to human beings. Only their feeding habits and their mind differ. Dom could live without his powers; he'd have to eat human food, and he'd have to deal with an extremely simple mind compared to the one he used to have."

"Like a kind of downgrading, then." I said, and Matthew agreed. "Sounds nasty."

"It is. I've seen it being done."

"Would you have shot him?" I asked, shifting around a little.

"Well, I knew it was a fake. I thought I could fool him with it, and I did at first, but he worked it out in the end. I suppose I knew he would, in the back of my mind, but I didn't realise it until he did, which is why I went into such a funny mood, all the laughing and-"

"Flirting."

He gave me a look.

"But would you have shot him, though? If it had been real?"

"No. I couldn't have, not-" He stopped himself. "Well, I'll come to that later, I suppose."

I got all annoyed again that he couldn't tell me it all now, but he said it was all far too complicated and needed to be explained in precise order. He's always been like that, and it absolutely infuriates me.

"Matt?"

"Who?"

"Sorry. Matthew?"

"Mmm?"

"Why didn't you get Dom out of my wardrobe when you, um, were stood in the doorway just after we got in? You _did _know he was there, right?"

"Of course I did. I also knew that _you_ weren't actually asleep."

I ignored the last bit. "Well why didn't you-"

"Jess." He placed a finger over my lips. "Dom was planning to kill you tonight. Because of that, he had his… 'attraction' levels up high. If I'd have tried to get him out of there, you would have sided with him, simply because he'd have wanted you to. Make sense?"

"Yeah. Shit, I didn't know I was that much… under his power…"

"The whole point is that you don't know."

"Yeah, but still… it's scary."

"Aww… you're safe now, I've got you." He turned onto his side and held me tightly to him, which was what I needed at that point. I was thoroughly spooked.

We lay there in silence for a couple of minutes. I think he sensed that I needed a bit of time to mull everything he'd said over.

After that time, he spoke. "I owe you an apology. I should have got there to save you earlier. You see…" He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "I made a mistake. I… assumed that Dom would attack you not long after I'd left the room, which of course he didn't. But I knew that once he started to attack you, he'd lower his attraction… thing and you'd be able to resist him. So my plan was to run downstairs and steal the gun from one of the neighbouring houses, and come into your room once he'd started to attack. I knew that all the townspeople would have a fake gun hidden somewhere in their house, they use it to threaten burglars or…"

He couldn't seem to think of another example, so just said 'nasty people', which gave me a fit of the giggles.

"So I stole this gun- will you stop laughing! I stole the gun, and came back up here, and I was listening for any signs in your mind that would tell me that Dom had started to attack you. Obviously as I got back to my room I knew you were still safe and asleep, so I thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to get Dom out without you being harmed."

I frowned; it sounded like his plan should have worked. "What happened?" I asked, trailing a finger along his cheekbone.

"You know from last night that I have a creaky floorboard outside my room; you stepped on it, which woke Alfie up, which then woke _me_ up, and I then realised Dom was there and I came to stand in your doorway and formulated my brilliant plan, yes?"

"That was a rather long-winded way of putting it, but yes, I know you have a creaky floorboard outside your room." I replied, smirking.

"Well, I… erm… stepped on it too, which alerted Dom to my presence. He came out to find me, and told me that he thought I'd have gone back to sleep after being all sentimental in your doorway- his words, not mine. So that was why he hadn't come out to 'get me out of the way' before. It was a good thing I'd hidden the gun in my room, mind…" He trailed off.

"And then he beat you up." I finished for him.

"In a nutshell. There was a lot of verbal abuse as well, but he knows as well as I do that I can't read your mind whilst I'm unconscious, so his main aim was to knock me out cold, and he, erm… succeeded." He seemed a little annoyed with himself for sounding so weak.

"Hey, it doesn't matter. You still saved the day, huh?" I soothed, kissing him lightly on the lips. He closed his eyes when I did so, of which I was very proud.

I felt pretty much satisfied at this point that a _lot_ of things had been thoroughly explained, but I knew there were still big gaps in my knowledge. I didn't want to push Matthew, though, so I searched around for an easier way for me to find everything out, and after batting a few ideas around in my head I eventually brought up the subject of mind-reading.

"Are you _sure_ there's no way I can read your mind? I'd really like to, you know…" I said, exploring his neck with my fingertips.

He chuckled. "I'm sure you would. But I'm not too keen on the idea myself."

"Why not?"

"I have a lot of secrets." He said, looking straight into my eyes.

I frowned. "Bad secrets?"

"Things I'm… not too proud of." He answered, smiling slightly.

I thought about this for a minute, but decided not to pry any further on that particular subject.

However, after that, it seemed like some kind of floodgates had opened in my mind. I started to remember little things that had never made sense, things that I'd previously ignored, and at that point they all fell out of me in a raging torrent that Matthew found very hard to interrupt.

"Matthew? You once told me that you have a choice about whether _you_ can read my mind or not."

"Did I?" He replied, and instead of answering I just thought through the conversation we'd had.

"_I do have a choice, yes."_

"_Then why the hell do you do it?"_

"_Can I answer in the morning? I'm stupidly tired and the answer's too long and complicated, anyway. And I know you're tired, too. Please?"_

"_Ok then, but you'd better tell me in the morning."_

"_Oh, don't worry, I will…"_

"Hmm. Yes, I do remember that." Matthew sighed. "I… I do it because I…" He trailed off, but I was ready with another question.

"And I also wanted to know _why_ you got me a _necklace _to 'get back on my good side'? Why not just… um… talk to me about it?"

"Oh god." He rubbed his hand over his face. "Do we have to talk about that? I'm not exactly… _proud_ of what I said and did yesterday, and I'd rather you didn't-"

I sat up when I next interrupted him, and he did the same, leaning against the headboard whilst I perched cross legged in the middle of the bed.

"And _what_ do you have against Tom? I mean…" I winced as Matthew's words from the tower came back to me. "You were right, I probably _would_ have ended up with him, but he's not an '_unworthy bastard'_-"

"Jess, please, I-"

"And _what_ were you doing on the tower in the first place? It can't just be a coincidence that you were there when I went up… you said you didn't control my mind or anything but I felt this kind of… pull towards it, exactly the same as when you play your guitar. What's that all about?"

"I can explain _all _of this if you'd just-"

"And there was something else, you said you'd been to this planet before, but I did some research and the last time _Bliss_ came here was 500 years ago, which can't be right, so how come you've-"

"_JESS!_" He shouted over me, and I fell silent.


	35. Bliss: 35

Matthew stared at me for a few seconds, breathing quickly, and then he rubbed his hand over his face.

"Sorry. I knew this was going to be hard."

"No, I should be sorry. I shouldn't have… barraged you like that." I replied, and he smiled slightly to himself.

"Ok…" He sighed. "Question number one is, I'm afraid, one that'll have to be answered later."

I rolled my eyes, and he smiled a little more, at me this time.

"Bearing in mind that 'later' is getting closer by the minute, Jess. You won't have to wait too long."

"Okay. Sorry."

"Question number… two… ah. The- the necklace. Well… I… it was just a… mistake. I'm not perfect, Jess, and I certainly don't know the human race well enough to get everything right-" He suddenly stopped himself and stared at me, wide-eyed. I raised my eyebrows.

"Matthew. I'd worked out _ages_ ago that you weren't human. You don't have to hide it, it's not _that_ much of a shock, and I'm not _that_ stupid. I'd just assumed that… you're going to tell me what you are… when you're ready, I suppose." I reassured him.

He continued to stare at me for a second, then shook his head slightly. "Of course you did. I… I knew that…"

"I was going to say, I thought you would've read my mind." I said, looking at him curiously.

He sighed. "Sorry. I… I live with 400 humans; I'm used to having to keep these things secret." He explained. "Okay… question three?"

"Oh, um…" I searched back in my mind, then blushed as I remembered.

"Tom." Matthew stated as I simultaneously whispered the word. He sighed. "I… I was angry. You wouldn't _listen_, and it was so important that you did, otherwise you would've got yourself killed by Dom, or… as you almost did tonight." He made a correction to his speech near the end which seemed suspicious, but I ignored it because he looked so forlorn and guilty.

"It's alright. I figured that was why. I'm sorry for not listening to you, you just… scared me." I said, and he closed his eyes. "But… but I forgive you for that, and everything, its okay… I swear we've already done this forgiving lark…" I muttered the last part to myself as I reached out to try and console him.

"Jess." He sat up a little, and held the hand that I was reaching out between both of his. "I have absolutely no problem if you still want to… be with Tom, so-" He stopped and frowned. "You know, your mind can be _very_ expressive-"

"Shut up." I smiled, a little embarrassed. When Matthew had suggested that I could still get together with Tom if I wanted to, my mind had immediately gone into overdrive about how I definitely _didn't_ want to, especially if Matthew retained the ability to kiss me as magnificently as he had done only twenty minutes (give or take) ago.

"Hey. Why are you still sitting over there?" He asked, smiling lightly.

I opened my mouth but it was a couple of seconds before I spoke. "Because…"

He shook his head. "Come here."

I obeyed, and once again found myself snuggled up against Matthew's shoulder, his arm firmly wrapped around my waist.

"Question number four. The… why I was already up in the tower thing." He said, kissing my forehead.

I looked up at him. He was very close. "You _do_ have some kind of pull on me, don't you?"

He smiled. "I do indeed. Do you mind?"

"No." I only just resisted from adding a 'Hell' on the beginning.

He chuckled. "I'm afraid I can't explain it in any more detail than that; I simply… draw you in whenever I think of you. I was up on top of that tower, wondering whether giving you that necklace was the right thing to do, and next thing I knew, you were there. At first I kind of… hid around the other side, I didn't want you to come up and find me straight away because I'd come to the conclusion that I'd been a bit of an idiot by buying you that thing, but then I…" He trailed off and seemed to be holding back a smile. "I simply couldn't resist the chance to…" He looked away. "Save you from falling over the edge." He closed his eyes and placed his forehead against mine.

"So you _meant_ for me to fall!" I smiled disbelievingly up at him.

"Not fall, but… lose your balance, so I could… catch you." He said, and leant his head back against the wall, firmly blushing.

_Now _there's_ a 'face-palm' if I ever saw one._

"Shut up. I… I do find you… remotely attractive, alright?" He said, looking down at me again.

My heart skipped a beat and my brain went _WOOHOOOOO!, _but I tried to keep my voice calm.

"_Remotely_?" I challenged.

He rolled his eyes. "Very. Now, I think it's about time we got on to this 'later' business, don't you?"

I was instantly distracted, as was his intention.

"What about question five, though? The thing about… you coming to this planet before but the last time_ Bliss_ was here was 500 years ago?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

"That question falls into the 'later' category, as well. I'll get onto it in a minute." He replied.

"You really have got this all planned out, haven't you?"

"Stop looking at me so admiringly, I really don't deserve it."

I thought '_you really do,'_ but didn't say anything as I didn't want to stall him from explaining the big stuff any longer.

"Ready?"

"Yep." I shifted around a little.

"Comfortable?"

"Get on with it."

He smirked. "All right."


	36. Bliss: 36

"So. You're not human." I started.

"Correct. I am a Larh." He replied, and I got the feeling that this word was different, was special, just like I'd got with 'Lamarénea'.

"Larh…" I repeated, but I couldn't quite get the exquisite roll of the r that Matthew used, or the sound he made for the 'h'. "I can't say it like you can."

"Ah, that was good enough for me. You spell it 'L, a, r, h'." He spoke each separate letter and I could see the word in my mind.

It struck me as strange, however, that Matthew had used human letters to spell it.

"We use your alphabet." He explained, answering my unspoken question. "It makes it easier for us, seeing as we communicate with your species rather a lot."

"You do?" I said, feeling completely out of my depth in this new world that was being introduced to me.

"Yes." He rested his cheek on my forehead. "We- we're born with the knowledge. I can speak every human language, as well as my own."

"Bloody hell…" I whispered.

"But then again my mind is a lot more developed than yours." He kissed my forehead, sounding a little smug.

I couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"Um… I suppose it's also worth bearing in mind that my species are related to Laths, and that Larhs and Laths both evolved from the human race." He said, his voice far too casual for the amount of information and revelations the sentence contained.

"Wh- I- y-you, you and… you and… D-Dom, and… me? We're all…" I stuttered, trying to process what he'd just said.

"Related, yes. But very distantly; as you know, evolution takes a hell of a long time." He stroked up and down my back as I settled down a little.

"That's why you… and Dom… look like humans, then?" I asked, and Matthew nodded. "But… Laths are all blonde and tanned and devastatingly gorgeous, and Larhs…" I trailed off, hoping Matthew would finish for me.

"I…" He smirked and kissed my forehead again. "I'm going to leave that as a surprise."

"What? But when am I ever going to find out?"

"Shh, there's no use in getting frustrated. I'm not going to tell you. It'd be like stereotyping my whole race, which I don't want to do. It's like me saying that all humans are stupid, ugly apes."

"Which we're not." I felt I ought to defend my species.

"Which you're not. And to make you feel better, you do get the odd Lath who's not blonde, or is… devastatingly ugly…"

I laughed, and he joined in.

"So, back to the explanation." He said, a smile still on his face.

"There's more?"

"Plenty more." He took a deep breath, as if to prepare himself for the next lot of explanations. "Laths and Larhs are very similar to each other, more than either race is to you humans. We both have the same biology apart from the obvious physical and mental differences, which is why the Lamarénea will work on either race. You… you like it when I say that word."

I smirked. "I do."

He nodded once, and took a breath as if to begin speaking again. But then he blew it back out again. "What was I saying?"

I grinned. "Matthew…"

He buried his head in my shoulder. I just laughed. After a few seconds he re-surfaced and continued. "Ah yes, I was _going_ to say that another vital difference is that although Larhs and Laths both feed on energy, we do it in different ways."

"What? You mean… you… hang on. You _both_ feed on energy?" I frowned.

"Yes. I can also eat human food- as can Dom, but I prefer energy. Its okay though, I don't _take_ energy from humans. That's the difference; Laths _take_ your energy, Larhs _share_ your energy."

"So… all the energy I have right now… is also yours?"

"If I want it to be, yes."

"So you're like a… parasite, then."

"Yes. No! No, I'm not." He sighed. "Sharing your energy is just a way for me to get by. If I wanted to I could just eat chocolate every five minutes, which would easily keep me going."

"Oh SHIT!" I jumped up, away from him.

"What?"

"I haven't… haven't been eating any chocolate t-to… but…" Matthew had told me, at least two weeks ago, to frequently eat chocolate so my energy would stay up. I mean, I'd been eating normal meals, but I hadn't had anything in-between and that can't have been good for me, especially with my life energy so low…

"I know." Matthew sighed again. "Come back, come on. This isn't going nearly as smoothly as I thought it would."

I returned to my original position but now the feeling of being out of my depth had intensified so much that I felt almost on the brink of tears.

"Okay. Let's get this sorted, yeah? Forget about Laths for a minute. I'm a Larh. I can read your mind, and I'm… connected to you. Whenever I think about you, you feel… pulled towards me. Yeah?"

"Yep."

I evolved from the human race, which is why I look like you, and talk like you, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"It's also why I can eat your food. I- I shouldn't have said that I _feed_ from your energy, because I don't. I can get by perfectly well on human food, it's just that your energy gives me a kind of… boost, which is why I prefer it to human food. It's also why I heal quickly when I'm restoring you after an attack. What I'm really doing during the whole process is opening up this… mental barricade we have that keeps our energy separate. That allows some of my energy to flow into you, restoring you to full health, but it also allows a little bit of yours to come to me. The whole 'feeding on sharing your energy' thing is basically my way of describing the connection we have. When this 'mental barricade' is closed, our energy is separate but we are still connected, hence the mind-reading and the 'pull'. Make sense?"

"Pretty much." I was feeling a bit better about all of this now.

"Whereas Dom… he can only survive on human food alone for… I think it's a week, so he _has_ to use human energy as a food source. And he can't share and make a connection like I do because then he'll feel bad for killing the human. It's like if he was me; I know you as well as you know yourself, because I can see all of your thoughts and memories, etcetera. If I were to kill you, it'd be like killing myself. So the Laths have evolved to be mindless, heartless murderers." He closed his eyes. "Excuse me, I'm a- a little biased."

"Okay. I've got this now." I smiled at his little outburst. "Wow. There's just… so much! And it all makes sense, but it's just…"

"Imagine describing the human race to a species that has never met one. Your way of life, your feeding habits, all of your little traits and sayings. That's what I'm trying to do. And… I'm afraid I'm still not finished." He pulled an apologetic face, and I sighed.

"Oh god." I'd only just got the hang of the whole energy thing, and now he was telling me he had more? "Well… I suppose you'd better tell me all of it now, whilst I can still remember what you've already said…"

"Okay then. You sure you don't want a break?" He said, looking into my eyes.

"I'm sure."


	37. Bliss: 37

"Alright. I suppose I can start by saying that, as a Larh, my… the purpose of my existence is to protect the human race. My main method of protection is the whole energy thing, because the human race's main threat is the Lath species, seeing as you're their only food source. But I'm also quite… resistant. Menial things like fire and water and blades can't kill me. The way to get rid of me is to destroy my mind, which is partly what the Lamarénea does, and is why lots of alien species out there find it quite hard to kill me; they don't have the technology." He said.

"You utter tank." I replied, and he made a weird kind of high pitched giggle in reply.

"Do I look it?"

I gave him a once over and replied, "Absolutely not."

He smiled and shook his head. I could tell that he'd expected my answer to be something along those lines.

We'd shifted; he was kind of slumped to the side with his knees bent sideways, towards me, and his elbow leaning on the top of the headboard, cradling my shoulders, whilst his other arm was free. I was sat in the crook of his elbow, leaning against his shoulder. My legs were kind of tangled with his, and I had one arm around his waist whilst the other, as I happily discovered, had free rein to explore his chest.

"Anyway… the thing is, I can obviously use my physical attributes to protect anyone, but that doesn't mean I'd want to. Larhs have… one human that they're kind of… connected to. D'you see where I'm going here?"

"I think I do…" I replied, biting my lip through my smile.

"And… my purpose, the whole point of my existence is… it's to protect _you_, Jess. Only you. Make you safe and happy. Make your life as perfect as I can. That's why I'm alive." He said the words softly, but they were a powerful blow to my heart.

"That's… kind of beautiful, y'know." I replied, after a long pause in which I let the words sink in.

"Yeah. A whole race dedicated to another. Every Larh has a human, _their_ human." He said, stroking my hair.

"So… I'm _your_ human, then?"

"Yes. Not in the sense that I own you, though. You're my human, and I'm your Larh. It's… mutual." He shrugged slightly, but he was still looking at me, _into_ me with those blue, blue eyes, and I knew right there that the sentence 'You're my human, and I'm your Larh' would stay with me forever.

"Why _me_, Matthew? I… I'm not worthy of you…" I whispered incredulously, for it was exactly how I felt. How could such a glorious, incredible being have been assigned to me? I was nothing worth protecting or making happy, I was no one.

"Of _course_ you are, you silly. But I didn't get to choose. You were born for me, and I for you. That's the way it is. But I wouldn't have had it any different; I'm glad it's you, and I'm certainly glad you're not a man…"

"Could I have been?" I asked, now reassured.

"Yes, or a newborn child, or a pensioner. But it's easier with you, you give us both more options." He said.

"Why?"

"Well, Jess, I can be whatever you want me to be. A brother, a lover-" He looked deep into my eyes for a split second after he said that but then looked away again. "A father… no, I look far too young to be your father…"

"You _are _too young, aren't you?" I replied, a little worried about the fact that he'd only said he '_looked'_ too young.

"Jess." He looked into my eyes again. "I'm thirteen hundred years old."

I froze. "Excuse me?"

"I'm one thousand, three hundred years old."

"B-b-b… But you're… you're hot!"

He stared at me for a second. He then burst out laughing.

"And who says I can't be hot at my age?" He was still giggling after at least five minutes. I moved to sit at the opposite end of the bed to him, arms and legs folded, thoroughly in a huff.

I didn't reply.

"Aww, come on, Jess. I'm sorry; it just sounded funny, the way that you said it." He scooted up beside me and put an arm around my shoulders. "I'm only thirteen hundred years old in Larh years, sweetheart, it's alright."

_He called me sweetheart. HE CALLED ME SWEETHEART._

"It's okay." I said, smiling at him.

He smirked. "I'm actually only twenty six in human years… am I allowed to be hot at _that_ age?"

I sighed. "Yes, you are. So you age a lot slower than I do, then. So…" I tried to work it out in my head but I couldn't. "How many Lath years is one human year, then?"

"Fifty."

"So… Every time fifty years go by, you age one year."

"One _human_ year, yes."

"So… by the time I _die_, you won't even be twenty eight?"

"No, no." He shook his head. "I am only twenty six in _human appearance_. On my planet, thirteen hundred years is still very young, and I look completely normal for my age. Broaden your mind a bit- it looks different from the two perspectives. If I told a Larh who'd never heard of the human race that you would be dead by the time you reached one hundred years of age, they'd think it was absolutely ridiculous, and a waste of time, because Larhs are still under-developed children at that age. You see?"

"Yeah, I suppose. I… hmm…" I still couldn't get my head around the fact that Matthew had been alive for so long.

"Think of my age as experience, not age itself. And please don't start thinking of me as _old_, because I'm not, not by my species' standards." He smiled, and I nodded. "And your other point, about you being dead before I reach twenty eight, is also nothing to worry about. When I finally found you, I started to age at the same rate as you. So I've had to get used to looking older every day for about two weeks now. It's horrible, I don't know how you do it."

"What do you mean, when you found me?" I turned towards him.

"When I realised that you were my human. Remember the mental barrier-barricade thing I was on about earlier? It was when I realised that was there. Which then enabled me to read your mind, and so on."

"And when did you 'find me'?" I leant in a little, eager to know the answer.

"Three weeks after I was given command of the ship. About two weeks ago. You were saving us from crashing, and I went over to see if you were okay. Remember that?"

How could I forget? I'd been so pissed off with him at the time…

"Exactly." He said, reading my mind. "I noticed that you were… angry at me, but I told myself that it was just the stress of the crash. I waited until later on that day, until you were in Chris and Tom's cabin, to check on you again. I was stupid, I'd been warned not to go straight in once it had happened but all I wanted to do was to immediately tell you absolutely everything. Of course, I didn't, because Tom and Chris were there, but I… I don't know. I just wanted to be close to you, I suppose."

"Fair enough…" I cast my mind back to the occasion, trying to remember all the exact details. But it seemed such a long time ago…

"And then I walked away and heard you tell them how much you hated me. 'I hate him as much as I hated Paul,' I think those were your words. Of course, I'd been ignoring your earlier anger in all my excitement, but it was only then that I realised from all your thoughts and memories just how much you _despised_ me. And it made me… I was devastated, to tell you the truth. You felt some of that, I think…"

I felt absolutely awful. I hadn't known when I'd said the words that they'd had such an affect on him, for I'd known nothing about our connection at that point. But I remembered the sadness I'd felt afterwards, and this seemed to link in with what the Captain had just said. "Yeah, I think I did…"

"And then I made myself a coffee to make me feel better, and-"

"I started thinking of coffee and felt better too! So… I _can_ read your mind, kind of…"

"You can… feel some of my emotions. But only sometimes. I haven't quite worked out why you don't get a constant feed of what I'm feeling, but I guess it must just be erratic."

"So… when else has that happened, then?" I said, not quite ready to believe him without more proof.

"Just after we'd got off of _Bliss_, when the Laths were checking me for ID. They scanned me and obviously I didn't come up as human, and I got a kind of… shock through my wrist. You must've felt that, it was bloody painful and they did it far more times than was necessary." He pouted a little and I smiled, realising he was right. "And I think there was a time when you were serving in the canteen as a favour to Kelly-"

"Whilst she was having her baby-" I interjected.

"Yes, there was a time then when you were really hungry, but then I came in and had my breakfast, and you felt full. That sound familiar?"

"Yeah. So… you can make me… not hungry. By eating stuff yourself." I said, but it didn't sound too clear in those words.

"Put it this way." He shifted around and sat cross legged, facing me. "Imagine there's this girl who's _supposed_ to be eating chocolate at frequent intervals to keep her energy levels up, yeah?"

I sighed and looked up at him as if to say 'are you _really_ doing this?'

He smirked, but continued. "But she doesn't, because it completely slips her mind. If she, for instance, has a Larh partner nearby who _knows_ about this, he could eat the chocolate instead, but she would still feel the benefits." He smiled, and dropped the 'storytelling' voice. "It all makes sense when you put it into a completely different context, don't you think?"

I literally growled. "You utter-" I jumped on him and pushed him down, going in for his ribs.

"Ah, no, not… not… n-not the ribs, Jess, no, please… I'm sorry…" He said between giggles, eventually grabbing hold of my hands and rolling me over, placing his weight on top of me and my arms firmly above my head.

"Okay, sorry." I said, trying desperately not to think anything along the lines of '_oh my god he's on top of me…'_. "And thanks for the whole… chocolate thing. I'll do it from now on. Unless… unless there's another way for me to get by without it?"

He raised his eyebrows and rolled off to the side. I tried not to pout. "There _is_ another way; I won't lie to you, but…"

"But…" I muttered under my breath.

"_But_… I don't think either of us is ready for it just yet, okay? I don't even know fully what it is or how to do it. So we'll leave that for another day."

"M'kay." I replied, and we lay side by side on our backs, staring up at the off-white ceiling.


	38. Bliss: 38

About half an hour and a whole lot of cuddling later, I decided to ask some questions.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaatt-" _shit, not allowed to say Matt, not allowed to say Matt… _"tttthhhhhhhewwwwww..."

He snorted. "Nicely saved." His tone of voice was rather sarcastic.

I huffed. "Shut up. But anyway. You know when you said something about getting used to looking older every day?"

"Mmm?"

"Does that mean… what does that mean?"

He smiled. "It means that ever since I found you I've been ageing at a human rate. It's quite alarming, actually, the speed of it."

"What? So you're getting older by a year… _every_ year, rather than every _fifty_ years?" I replied, trying to make sense of what he'd said.

"Yes. So when you're old and grey, I will be too. It happens so it's easier for me to spend my life with you." He looked down at me.

"That's cute."

"Yeah."

There was a pause, in which we simply stared into each other's eyes. Well, I speak for Matthew there, I was literally falling into his sparkling sapphires. But eventually I thought of something else, and had to break the spell.

"Matt? Thew?"

He sighed. "If it makes you happy you can call me… Matt." He paused before saying the word, a look of distaste on his face. "I won't promise to answer to it, though."

"Um… thanks." I wasn't used to someone saying 'if it makes you happy' and actually meaning it. "I was going to say, why haven't you told everyone else on Bliss about you being a Larh? I mean, you said every human has one, so shouldn't they deserve to know about it, since they'll all be found by _their_ Larh one day?"

"That's a good question." He huffed out a breath before continuing. "The reason I haven't told anyone… and the reason that no unfound humans know about us-"

"Wait- unfound?"

"Those that haven't been found by their Larh."

"Oh." I felt a bit stupid, it seemed obvious now. "So, not one human- _unfound_ human- knows that Larhs exist?"

"That's right. There're a lot of reasons why that is, but the main one is because it puts humongous pressure on us. Think about it- if you lot knew about Larhs, you'd all want one, and you'd want it _now_." He said, smirking slightly, and I knew it was true. "It doesn't work like that. It sometimes takes hundreds of years for the two to be united- as with you and I. We were lucky actually, I found you quite early on. I could've been, say, three thousand years old when I found you, by which time I would have looked like (and therefore had to act as) your grandfather."

"That must be awful- and because you start ageing in human years when you find your human, you'd only have thirty-odd years left to live!" I said, extremely glad that Matthew and I still had at least sixty years together.

"Exactly. Finding your human seems like a death sentence for some Larhs, especially since they've been alive for so long before-hand. I can't imagine having to live for two or three thousand years; thirteen hundred is definitely enough." He shook his head at the thought of such a long existence.

"I see what you mean. You must get fed up of life after a while."

"Mmm. Some Larhs get so frustrated that they spend the end of their lives solidly searching for their human. Some die without ever finding them, either because the human hasn't been born yet or simply because they're in such an obscure place that they _can't_ be found. And sometimes, if the Larh finds their human at the very _end_ of their life, they simply commit suicide and murder the human because they've had enough. It's happened plenty of times; Larhs and humans have an excellent system if everything goes to plan, but sometimes the timing isn't perfect enough for it to work out."

"That's…" I couldn't think of anything to describe how horrible the consequences of being born at the wrong time could be. "So how long would you have lived if you'd never have found me?"

"Five thousand, one hundred and seventy six is the record for the longest-living Larh, which is about one hundred and three in human years. But I wouldn't want to live that long." He said, biting his lip.

"Would you… erm… commit suicide, like you said?" I asked tentatively.

"Ah. No, I didn't quite mean… no, I wouldn't. There aren't any quick and painless ways of death for us, seeing as the only way to kill us is through our mind. It's… I wouldn't be able to do that to myself." He said, but something didn't seem quite right to me.

"But earlier you said Larhs would commit suicide if they found their human at the end of their life, yeah?" I said, turning the statement into a question with my tone of voice, searching for confirmation. The other thing that had struck me as strange was the fact that he'd said 'commit suicide' before 'murder the human'. Surely it would be the other way round?

He sighed. "Oh, Jess, I really didn't want to have to tell you this…"

"You said you'd tell me _everything_. You've already refused to tell me how I can get by without eating chocolate every five minutes, I'm not letting you-"

"Alright, alright." He sighed again, but smiled at me. "The thing is… when a human dies- any human, anywhere- it kills their Larh. Even if the human and the Larh haven't yet been united, if the human dies, the Larh dies too. It's because without our humans, we no longer have a purpose. There's no point in us, so we die." He looked into my eyes. "There's no need to look so shocked, it's completely natural."

He said it perfectly reassuringly, but I couldn't help the immense feeling of guilt that had swept down over me. I had his life completely in my hands.

"So your purpose is to protect me, but by doing that you're also protecting your own life?" I said quietly.

"Yeah." He sat up a little, taking me with him. "Look, Jess. Don't worry about me, really. If you died and I was able to live on… well, I wouldn't want to. It's the same kind of thing the other way round. If I was killed, you would stay alive, but it'd feel like a part of you was missing. Most humans that have had that happen to them have gone into depression or killed themselves anyway." I could tell from his voice that he saw all of this as a mere fact instead of a tragedy. I thought there must be something seriously wrong with the whole idea of Larhs and humans if so many awful things could happen. "Hey, don't think like that." He interrupted my thoughts. "Please, it's perfectly natural. It's just… it's not naturally perfect, if you get what I mean. But _you_ don't need to worry about any of it, because you and I are a model example of how _well_ the system works. And I'm not about to let you get yourself killed, now, am I?"

I smiled at him, stroking a finger down his cheek. What he was saying was true, but it was a strange, new concept that would take me time to get my head round. He was right though; as long as he and I looked after each other, none of the bad consequences of the human-Larh relationship would affect us.

But then I had a thought. Maybe it _could_ affect us. Maybe it already had...

Matthew froze as he read my mind. "Ah. Yes. Well…"

Just to keep you up to date, I'd suddenly thought of Paul, Matthew's brother, and how he had died. If Matthew was a Larh, I'd taken it as fact that Paul was of the same species, a fact that had not yet been contradicted by Matthew so I assumed I was right. If that was the case, Paul was supposed to be physically resistant to all kinds of human physical damage, like Matthew had described. A human gun wouldn't have hurt him, so why did he die when he shot himself with one?

"This is why we need to get off of this planet." Matthew continued, his hand twitching slightly on the side of my face.

"Are _you_ in danger whilst we're here?" I asked.

"Not if I keep you safe. That was Paul's mistake." He said.

"What… what happened?" I asked, shifting into a more upright position against Matthew.

"Well… I suppose I'll start with something you already know. _Bliss_ came to this planet 500 years ago, which you told me you'd researched, yes?" He asked, and I nodded. "Paul and I were on the crew… we'd joined by recommendation from our parents that becoming part of a human crew would inevitably lead us to _our_ humans. They were right; Paul found his when he was one thousand and thirty, which is about twenty years old in human years. It was extremely lucky, because Larhs become of age at one thousand years, which basically means that before that age we're not mature enough to deal with another person's life and so even if we _did_ meet our human, if it was below that age we wouldn't be able to connect, etcetera…" He said the last part extremely quickly and I wasn't sure if I'd understood properly. I'd have to ask him to go over that bit again later. "But anyway, I'm going off the subject. Paul had found his human and he was- thank god- exceptionally understanding-"

"Wait. _He?_" I interrupted.

"Yes. Paul's human was male. His name was Dominic." Matthew gave me a very significant look and my eyebrows shot through the roof at the coincidence. Matthew's smile was pained as he continued. "But Dom happily accepted Paul as a brother of sorts, which was lucky as Paul had only just become of age. Dom joined the crew and kept the secret, and everything was going quite well."

"How old were_ you _at this point?" I asked, completely captured by the story and wanting to know more.

"I was only eight hundred. Sixteen, in your years. Still just a child." He smiled. "It was annoying, because I kept thinking that one of the human crew members could very well be _mine_. But I wouldn't be able to know for another two hundred years, by which time they'd all be dead and I could have missed my chance." He tenderly kissed my cheek and I knew just as well as he did that we were both thinking the same thing; of how lucky we were that time had been kind to us.


	39. Bliss: 39

"So you and Paul… and Dom were the only ones on _Bliss_ who knew about… everything." I said, not wanting to interrupt the silence but keen to know more.

"Correct. Which lead to a dilemma when Captain Benn announced that we would be stopping on a planet named Orrup for a weekend. As soon as Paul and I heard the name we instantly knew that under no circumstances could we land there with three hundred and fifty-odd unsuspecting humans in the crew. Of course, we voiced our concerns to the Captain, but when he asked us _why_ we didn't want to land, we couldn't tell him because he was unfound."

"Why not? Surely it would've been better to trust him with the secret and save people's lives than… let him land here!" I said angrily.

"We're under oath. The one and only time Larhs and Laths have ever collaborated is to write this… document thing that states that every Lath, Larh and found human is under oath to keep the secret. I don't know if I told you earlier, but the reason Laths don't want you knowing about them is because if you did, it'd be harder for them to feed because you wouldn't want to go anywhere near them."

"Quite right too!" I said, interrupting his train of thought.

He sighed. "Don't base all Laths on Dom Howard. Most are peaceful, only feeding when they need to and not playing with their food. Just because they are your predators doesn't mean they don't have a right to eat."

I frowned. I could see his point, but I didn't like it.

"But anyway, both species made the oath, and it was agreed that if it was broken, the offender would either be killed (if human), or shot by the Lamarénea (if Larh or Lath), which is almost as bad."

"_Almost as bad?_ I think _dying_ is worse than downgrading!"

"That's just the way it is, I'm afraid. For most Larhs and Laths, a 'downgrading' as you put it _is_ almost as bad as death." He said, and I huffed. "We've gone way off the subject, anyway. Paul and I couldn't tell the Captain _why_ we didn't want him to land on Orrup, so he ignored us- which is quite understandable; we must've sounded like two kids who just didn't like the look of the place." Matthew smiled a little. "So. We landed, and the weekend was an inevitable mess of disappearances and attacks. The worst news came when we heard that Captain Benn _and_ his second in command had been taken, and that was when Paul decided to do something. He thought that if _Bliss_ had another human Captain, the crew would continue to be exposed to unnecessary danger. Not only did Paul know about the threat the Laths posed, but he'd been alive for one thousand years, and he… well, he assumed he'd have enough experience to look after the crew."

"So he wanted to be Captain." I intervened.

"Precisely." Matthew smiled even more and rubbed his hand over his face. "The only problem was, how was he to get the human crew- some of whom were a lot older and more… 'qualifiable' for Captain status than he was- to embrace _him_ as their new leader?" He looked at me, still smiling, yet I could tell the memory was bittersweet for him. "He decided to act the hero. He assigned Dom and I to go around with him, looking for all the bodies of the missing crew members, and bring them back so they could be… funeralled or whatever it is you humans do. Dom and I went along with it rather unwillingly, to be honest with you. I thought it'd be much better to just keep quiet and let someone else take control. We did it anyway, though, and eventually Paul won the hearts of the crew. But…" He stopped, and I sensed this was the part where he finally told me what had happened to Paul.

"Did the Larhs attack him or something?" I asked cautiously, but Matthew shook his head.

"They kidnapped Dom. We never saw him again after that, so the crew assumed he was dead too and couldn't see any reason why we shouldn't leave the planet straight away. Paul couldn't have stayed when the crew wanted so desperately to leave, because he'd only just been appointed Captain and didn't want to lose that. So we left without Dom, everyone thinking he was dead like the others."

"But he wasn't?" I asked.

"No. He was still alive. Paul knew of course, because of the mind-reading thing, but there was a time about forty years later when Paul felt Dom's mind suddenly go dead. Of course, Paul then thought _he_ was about to die, but he didn't. It was strange, because Paul couldn't see anything in Dom's mind, but he hadn't died, so Dom had to still be alive somehow. I'm still not quite sure how the Laths did it, but I assume it was some kind of preservation method they use for storing away humans ready to feed on when they're ready. A little like you humans do with freezers and meat, but keeping the meat alive at the same time, because Laths can't feed on a dead human- there's no energy left in them so they're useless."

"So Dom was being… preserved?" I said, horrified. It sounded disgusting.

"I think so. Like I said, that's only my theory, but it's the only one I've come up with over the last four hundred years or so. But anyway, this is taking far too long to explain…" He wiped a hand over his face. "We carried on as normal, and eventually we kind of forgot about Dom, and Paul's unusual situation. But then, almost a year ago now, Paul's connection with Dom suddenly re-formed, and he could see into his mind again. Dom had no idea what had happened to him for all those hundreds of years, in fact I don't think he realised that so much time had gone by. But if my theory's right, he'd just been brought out of preservation and so hadn't aged at all. Paul of course wanted to go back and get him, and we almost did. Do you remember where we were when Paul died?"

"Um… we were orbiting that sun, weren't we? I can't remember the name…" I said. I could see the blue, eerie light that we'd been surrounded in for a couple of days from the sun that Matthew was describing, but I couldn't remember what it was called.

"The name doesn't matter. It was that one, out there." He said, pointing out of my broken window, to the sapphire sun that was gradually rising in the Orrupian sky.

"Blimey! So we were close, then! Why didn't Paul come down to get Dom?" I asked, sitting up a little for a better view out of the window.

"Because a couple of days before Paul was going to leave, he read something in Dom's mind told him that there was no hope. He saw Dom being kidnapped by the Howards, and… well, that meant trouble."

"Wait- 'The Howards'?" I interrupted.

Matthew smiled. "Yeah, Dom Howard played a part in Paul's death, but it was mainly a... shall I say 'family thing'?" He sounded bitter.

"So Dom's family are some kind of gang?" I asked, still not quite clear.

"Yep. I think it was Dom Howard's older sister, Emma, who actually took Dom. Wait, this is getting confusing." Matthew stopped himself and I agreed with him. The two Doms were getting thoroughly mixed up in my mind. "Okay… well you know who Dom Howard is, so if I tell you that _Paul's_ Dom was a Dominic _Bryant_… would that make things easier?"

"Yeah… Dom H and Dom B." I summarised, and Matthew gave a nod of approval. "So Dom H's sister kidnapped Dom B. And… why did that mean trouble?"

"Can I save that for another time? Just let me finish Paul's story first, yeah?" Matthew said, seeming to only just realise how much explaining he had to do.

"Okay. So Dom B was kidnapped." 

"Yes, and… because of… certain reasons, Paul knew that the Howards would eventually _kill_ Dom B, so he knew that he himself would soon die."

"That must've been horrible…" I murmured.

"So Paul had to make a plan, because he didn't want to be found dead in his cabin for absolutely no reason. Partially because it would look suspicious, as he was perfectly healthy up to that point, and partially because he didn't want me to get blamed for it."

"Why would anyone think you'd kill your own _brother_?" I asked, incredulous.

"So that _I_ could be Captain." He said coldly, and I was reminded of how harsh we humans could be when passing judgement.

"Good point."

"So he set up the suicide thing. And obviously, he knew exactly when the right moment was to fire the gun, because he could see into Dom B's mind and therefore know exactly when he was going to be killed." Matthew said, not looking at me.

"My god…" I whispered, and we sat in silence for a few minutes. I felt awful; I'd always hated Paul Bellamy for being so strict and uptight all the time, but now I knew that it was because his human had been condemned to death. Having to live with the knowledge of something like that was more than enough reason to be a little bad-tempered, especially if you knew that there was nothing you could do about it.

After a while, in which I thoroughly thought over everything I'd been told, Matthew turned to me. "Is there anything that still doesn't make sense?"

I thought through it all, and honestly couldn't think of anything that had been left understood. "I don't think so. Matthew-" I started, as he looked as if he was going to speak again and I had something still left to say. "Um… thank you, y'know, for telling me all this. It means a lot that you trust me this much."

"Of course I trust you." He smiled, and the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly. There was a glimmer of something in his eyes, but I couldn't quite make out what it was. "Well, if that's everything…" He paused for a second, giving me a thorough, searching look. Then, without warning, he jumped up from the bed, grabbed his coat from the chair (I hadn't even noticed him bring it in earlier) and said, "We'd better get going!" Then he was out of the door.

"Um… _what?_" I called, staring at the space where Matthew had swished his coat around his shoulders a few seconds ago.

"We need to get everyone off of this planet _now_. It's more dangerous than I thought!" He shouted from down the corridor.

"More dangerous…" I murmured to myself, thinking that this couldn't be good. But Matthew seemed… _excited_ about it all. The glimmer in his eyes from before had turned out to be just that, a kind of mischievous high. I frowned at the floor for a few seconds, wishing for the umpteenth time that I could see into his mind. Then I grabbed my own coat and grudgingly followed him down the corridor, sighing as I went. I'd expected at least another kiss and a cuddle before any kind of action.


	40. Bliss: 40

As I knocked on the door of room _001_ and told everyone to get up and pack up, Matthew came speeding past me followed, rather more slowly, by the other inhabitants of the first floor corridor, who looked a bit confused and very sleepy. I watched him go by and shook my head. I still hadn't worked out why he was so excited about all this, and the only words he'd said to me since he'd ran out of me bedroom were, "you go and get packed, I'll wake the sixth floor up."

Even as the last of the crew filtered into the reception of the hotel, Matthew didn't look at me, too fired up to give me any sign that everything was going to be okay.

He addressed the whole crew once they were silent. "Alright everyone, sorry about the early start, but we need to get off of this planet as quickly as we can. It's too dangerous for us to stay: you're all under threat from a certain band of the inhabitants- the Laths- who are trying to…erm… kidnap you. What we're going to do now is-" but he was cut off by a number of angry shouts, asking for more information about this newfound danger and why it was targeting us. To be honest, I almost felt like joining in with the shouts, but I didn't want to cause Matthew any more difficulty.

Matthew had obviously had a plan as to how to get us out of here quietly, as it was seven in the morning and waking up the locals probably wouldn't be the best idea. But now the crew had been alerted of danger, they just wanted to get to the safest place they knew, as quickly as possible. So, with the power only a crowd of 400 people could produce, Matthew's voice was drowned out and the crew pushed their way out of the hotel and in the general direction that we'd come from the day we'd arrived, back towards _Bliss_.

In the rush of the people I was pushed forwards and squeezed through the door into the fresh blue daylight. I wanted to try and find Matthew, or Chris or Kelly or _someone_ I knew well, but I couldn't see any of them in the sea of heads bobbing along the road. After a few minutes of walking on tiptoes and scanning as much of the crowd as I could see from my position, I gave up and contented myself with simply being swept along towards safety.

"Nightmare, this, isn't it?" The woman next to me said, elbowing her way past a man who worked in the control room of _Bliss_ in order to stay next to me. I had no idea who she was or what she did on our ship, but I smiled politely and nodded my head in response. She grunted a little as she dragged her suitcase up a raised curb, her dark ponytail bouncing with the effort. "Who does Bellamy think he is, demanding we leave at such short notice?"

"No, he-" I said, but stopped myself. I didn't want to give away to a stranger just how close my relationship with the Captain had become over the last few hours with a solid contradiction. "He… he said we're in danger, so there's probably a good reason for it. But I-I know, it is pretty early, huh?" I tried for another smile, and she seemed to buy it.

"Oy, Georgina! Georgey!" A man was calling from somewhere behind us, and the woman turned to me and rolled her eyes.

"Husbands, eh?" She gave me a knowing smile, as if I'd know exactly what she meant, before dropping back in the crowd to join the man who was calling: her husband.

I watched her go back. The crowd had loosened out a little now, breaking off into little groups as the road grew wider and the buildings became less frequent. I weaved in and out of the people, upping my pace as I resumed my search for a friendly face. I didn't need to look far however, as it wasn't long before I was joined discreetly by Matthew.

"Not quite how I planned it to go, but still. At least we're all out." He muttered, and I could tell that the crew's angry reaction to his speech had weakened his enthusiasm quite significantly.

I shook my head. "You could at least have given _me_ some kind of explanation before running out of my room!" I hissed, not wanting anyone to overhear.

"Well, I was… keen to get on with it." He replied, and I snorted. 'Keen' was an understatement. "Oh, come on," He retorted. "I've never done anything like this before! Organise a secret escape from a dangerous planet." He nudged my arm. "It's exciting stuff!" His eyebrow was raised and I could tell that he was being sarcastic.

I couldn't help but smile a little. "Well, it could've waited a _couple_ of minutes, at least."

He frowned at me. "I consider two minutes _far_ too short a time frame in which to have a _decent_ kiss." He smirked at my expression. "Well, it won't do for me to walk with you _all_ the way, do excuse me…" And with that he was off towards the front of the crowd. I felt a little light-headed. The things he could do to me with that mind-reading ability of his…

I was wandering aimlessly through the crowd again when I heard a shriek and a baby crying. It didn't take me long to find the source: my brother, along with Kelly and Alfie who were making a scene. Chris was trying desperately to quieten them down, but he was failing rather miserably and instead he was using his time to apologize to any nearby crew members who were shooting him funny looks.

"Yo." I murmured in his ear as I sidled up to him, and he turned to me with a look of surprise before a smile broke across his face.

"I was wondering where you got to. Seen Tom anywhere?" He said, and I shook my head. "D'you know what all this is about? Bellamy said danger but I'd have thought he might explain a little better…"

"Well, he was probably going to before this lot started _heckling_," I replied, pointing my thumb over my shoulder in the vague direction of the rest of the crew.

Chris looked like he was about to say something else, but Kelly interrupted.

"He won't stop _crying_! Chris, can you hold him for a bit? I think he might need a nappy change…"

"Oh, well I… maybe he…" Chris started, but Kelly had already ladled Alfie into his arms and he became quite preoccupied.

"You know, Jess," Kelly said to me, swapping her suitcase to her right side and shaking out the hand that had previously been dragging it. "That Captain came thundering straight into my room, no knock or anything! And you should've seen the way he looked at Alfie… I think there's something not quite right about that man. You sho-"

"Kelly! Chris has given me this talk already." I huffed, stopping her from giving me yet another warning to stay away from Matthew.

"And…?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"And I get it. I get what you're saying." I said, trying to avoid a direct promise to her as I didn't want to lie. The things I now knew about Matthew meant that there was no way I was going to stay away from him, for his sake as well as mine.

"But did you make Chris a promise? Did you say you'd leave Bellamy alone?" Kelly probed further, asking for the very thing I didn't want to give.

"_Leave him alone?_" I was scandalised. "What, like I've been _chasing after_ _him_ or something?"

"Jess, Jess… okay, I didn't mean it like that. Just… don't do anything stupid. He's not right; I don't think you should be around him. Who knows what he could do? I'm just trying to look after you. We all are."

I sighed. "I _know_ that, Kelly. I just think… I think I should be able to make my own decisions about stuff like this, that's all."

"That's perfectly fine with me, Jess. I know the difference between advice and influence. But _some_ people…" She glanced over at Chris, who was tickling Alfie. "Some people are rather protective, and might try to pressure you even though they… mean well."

I sighed, again. "Yeah. I… yeah." I couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"But, Jess…"

"What?"

"You're _not_ involved with him, are you?"

"Kelly!"

She smirked and looked away. "It's your choice, but… you know what I think."

"Okay, okay…"

I looked in the opposite direction, suddenly wanting to be back on my own, lost in the crowd, with time to think and no interruptions. Now I knew that I had to stay with Matthew for the rest of my life, there had to be some point where I revealed the facts to Chris, Tom and Kelly, or they'd never accept our relationship. I was trying desperately to think of some way that I could make my best friends happy without breaking the oath I was now tied to as a found human. No inspiration came from the small gatherings of people walking around me, so I looked ahead and found myself staring straight at my home, _Bliss._


	41. Bliss: 41

I hadn't realised we were so close and I smiled as I took in the familiar shape of the ship. As my eyes wandered over the metal and down to the hatch at the front, I saw Matthew a couple of metres ahead of the front of the crowd. He had almost reached the hatch and I started to walk just a little faster in order to catch up with him. My increased speed went unnoticed by Chris and Kelly, who were both completely focused on little Alfie, but I was interrupted by someone different before I could reach Matthew.

"Jess!" Tom cried, trotting up to my side and matching my step. "Where the fuck did you go last night? I haven't seen you since you went up that bloody tower and you cut me off of the GSC! I've been worried sick about you; Chris said not to worry, that you'd 'turn up soon enough', but-"

"Tom, calm down!" I interrupted. Was it really only yesterday that I'd climbed the tower, only last night that Dom had attacked me? I'd thought nothing of Chris' swift look of surprise when I'd caught up with him in the crowd a minute ago, or his casual 'seen Tom anywhere?', but now it was clear that he'd been reminded of my disappearance and had wanted to reassure Tom that I was okay.

"But… what happened to you? Are you alright? You said on the GSC that you needed to think but you sounded a bit upset…" Tom laid a hesitant hand on my upper arm. I didn't shake it off. He was being sweet.

"Tom, it's okay. I'm fine. I just… I dunno. Something came over me and I had to sort my head out, so I went for a walk. That's all." I said, looking straight ahead of me, not wanting my eyes to betray my lie.

"Alright." Tom said, and rubbed my arm a little before letting his hand swing back to his side. "Was there anyone else up the tower?"

I started. "No," I said, a little too quickly. It had simply been a curious question, but after my hasty retort Tom's tone of voice changed to one of suspicion.

"Jess, what happened up there?"

"Nothing, Tom. I'm fine, promise." I said, consoling myself in the fact that I _was_ fine at the moment, so it wasn't really a lie.

He sighed. "If you say so." But his voice contradicted his words, and I could tell that he wasn't satisfied. I heard him mutter, "_Knew_ I shouldn't have let you go up there…" under his breath, and a wave of anger hit me. Why did he have to be so bloody protective?

But we'd reached the ship now, and Matthew was right in front of me, and he turned his head and raised his eyebrows as if to say 'calm down'. It had the desired affect and my anger dispersed at once, but I still narrowed my eyes at him and thought: _don't you tell me what to do!_ He just smirked and then focused his attention on the keypad on the right-hand side of the hatch.

I fiddled with a bit of thread coming loose from the lining around my coat pocket whilst Tom, the rest of the crew and I waited for Matthew to open up _Bliss._ My fingers twirled around the knotted cotton, and the heel of my hand bumped into something solid that lay inside my pocket. I reached in and produced a little bar of chocolate, wrapped in some kind of cloth. I looked from it to the back of Matthew's head a couple of times, wondering if there might be a connection between them, and I could just about see the edge of a smile forming on Matthew's cheek as he read my mind. So, he'd planted some chocolate in my pocket, had he? Perhaps to remind me that it had to be a regular part of my diet? As if I didn't know that already? He'd opened the hatch and was starting up the ramp, and I drew up level with him, giving him a little angry poke as I did so.

"For emergencies." He muttered, and his smile grew wider.

We reached the door to the atrium and Matthew and I lead the way in. Tom had dropped behind but Chris and Kelly (and Alfie) had caught up, and I was suddenly nervous that Chris would see me walking next to Matthew and draw some kind of conclusion from it. I definitely didn't want a scene about 'staying away from Bellamy' in front of the whole crew. So I slowed slightly, positioning myself in between the Captain and my brother. I knew Matthew could see in my mind why I'd done it, so I didn't have to worry about causing him any offence with the move.

Our little gang at the front was now halfway up the stairs that spiralled gently, following the contours of the left-hand wall until they met with the balcony running around the atrium, 25 metres from the floor. Just before I reached the balcony, all 400 crew members had filtered into the large room, and I could hear the hatch close with a loud clang, followed by the rather smoother sound of the atrium door sliding shut.

I was expecting Matthew to give some kind of speech whilst he still had the entire crew all in one place, and I assumed I was correct as he paused before pressing his hand to the small open-pad by the door. But as I waited, as the rest of the crew waited, he didn't turn around, and I grew ever more worried as I watched his face become deadly serious. His hand had been hovering by the open-pad, ready to slide the door open, but it gently floated back down to his side as he stared at nothing in particular. A few more seconds passed, in which the mumblings from the crew grew louder. Then Matthew spoke.

"Something's wrong."

He said it very quietly, and I think only Chris, Kelly, Tom and I- possibly a few others- heard it. Matthew stared at the closed door, his right thumb straying up to snag between his teeth as he thought. A couple of seconds later, a decision had evidently been made, for his hand moved back down towards the open-pad. Before he pressed it, however, his eyes flicked up to meet mine and he muttered, "Wait here." Then he was through the door, and the metal was sliding back into place, separating us from him.

I turned to Chris and frowned, and he shrugged his shoulders. I was about to say something along the lines of 'what's going on?', but I stopped as I heard the Captain call my name through the door. I immediately stepped forwards and pressed my hand to the open-pad, stepping through when the metal slid across.

Usually, going through this door would lead to a kind of t-junction, with a wide corridor stretching out to the left and right. Along this large corridor were lots of little ones branching off ahead, leading to store-rooms, various control rooms and stairs up to the sleeping quarters. Directly opposite the atrium door was another, similar sheet of metal, which led through to the main meeting-room, where all the heads of department on the ship would usually collaborate to talk about destinations, supplies, things like that. That was the view you'd normally get. But as I stepped into the corridor, I realised that Matthew's instinct from before was correct. Something was definitely wrong.

There were dents in the floor and ceiling that looked like they'd been burnt there, the liquid metal from the intense heat having solidified around the rim of each hole. Some of the doors leading to the branching corridors had been ripped away, the ruined mechanism showing, some of the wires still crackling with useless electricity. There were burn marks all down the walls, but no metal had been melted away, leaving just ugly black marks. The floor was coated in a thin layer of what appeared to be sand or dust, which had piled up in some of the holes. It looked as if it had been thrown around in handfuls, deliberately making the ship dirty. It was this that I found Matthew inspecting as I made my way through the door, a look of complete sorrow on his face. I was in no doubt that he loved _Bliss_ just as much as I did, and the amount of disgust and sadness I was feeling at this mess couldn't be more than what he was enduring.

When he saw me come through, he stood up. I ignored the gasps of shock and horror from people filtering in behind me, as Matthew was beckoning me closer to him, looking like he wanted to speak.

"We're too late. This dust," He had some in between his finger and thumb and rubbed it away as he mentioned it. "This dust is from outside. I don't know how, but they've got in."

"Who?" I interrupted, but he shook his head irritably and didn't answer.

"We can't leave the ship…" He looked around at the damage, and at the people pushing their way in to see what was the matter. He and I had been forced up against the meeting-room door to make way for them. "Jess, I need you to take everyone down to the hold."

"Matth-"

"Quickly." He was looking right at me now. "I promise I'll explain later, I just need you all safe. If _you_ stay here where I can see you, and tell everyone where to go as they come through…" He trailed off, distracted. "And then-"

But he didn't get any further, for the meeting-room door had shot open and he stumbled back in surprise. I had been slightly off to the right of the door, so I still stood in the corridor. There were about two seconds in which I took in that the meeting-room was very dark, and there were things moving around in there, things that looked human, things that were grabbing hold of Matthew and pulling him away from me… but then the door slid shut and he was gone and no matter how I punched at the open-pad, I couldn't get the door to open.

"Matthew!" I cried, several times, arousing strange looks from those around me and a considerable level of hush, but I didn't care. I was about to call his name again when, in the sudden quiet amongst the crew, I heard him shout something back.

"Get to the hold! To the hold! Quickl-"

My eyes widened as his speech was cut off, and I stared at the door, wishing for him to speak again, to tell me what was going on, to tell me it was going to be okay. But then I realised everyone was staring at me, and my eyes turned to their confused, frightened faces.

"W-we need to go down t-to the… to the hold." I managed to get out, but I didn't need to say any more. The crew's fear, doubled with an instruction of what to do, lead them straight past me down the corridor to the hold, a place where the crew must gather if the ship is in any kind of danger. I seldom went down there, as I was usually up at the source of the problem due to my job, but this time the dilemma wasn't mechanical. I didn't know what I was doing, I'd lost my only hope of knowing what was going on now Matthew had been taken, and so I just stood there and tried not to cry.


	42. Bliss: 42

Most of the crew were just running straight past me, not paying me any attention. But Chris, Kelly and Tom stood quite still beside me, identical looks of shock on their face. Finally Chris broke the spell.

"Kelly, get Alfie safe. Go on. I'll stay here and…" He glanced at me, but didn't finish his sentence.

"Chris, please, I don't-" Kelly started, but Chris wasn't having any of it.

"Tom'll go with you."

"No, I-" Tom butted in.

"I'll look after her, Tom." Chris said, finality in his voice. I knew he was talking about me, and I suddenly felt a wave of guilt for making this so hard for them.

"I'm fine." I said, but they didn't hear me; I'd spoken too quietly. Tom had taken Kelly's arm and was leading her down the corridor, along with the last few members of the crew. It seemed as if the instruction hadn't quite travelled down to these people, for they stopped to ask me where they were supposed to be going.

"The hold." I answered, trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"Why?"

"C-Captain's orders." I said, and it suddenly became ten times harder for me to keep from crying.

"Are you okay?" One of the women asked.

"Yeah, I'm… I'm fine, I… just go." I said, and she gave me a concerned look before following on down the corridor.

Neither Chris nor I moved once they had all disappeared round the corner. We both knew we should really be getting to safety, but I didn't feel capable of walking one step and I doubt Chris would've gone down without me. But I couldn't look at him, and so kept my eyes fixed to the floor. It was he who eventually broke the silence.

"You and him, then."

I knew he was talking about Matthew. I'd made it pretty obvious after screaming his name once he'd been taken and reacting like this now he was gone. "It's complicated." I said, and winced at the cliché-ness of my words.

"You… you remember what I said about him?"

I wanted to tell him. I wanted to say that I _had_ to be with Matthew, that I didn't really have much choice, and that Matthew would never do a thing to hurt me or put me in danger. But I couldn't think clearly and so settled for a simple "Yeah."

"You remember what you promised me?" Chris said, but I couldn't just agree to that.

"Things changed, Chris. I… I know you don't like him, and neither did I-"

"Exactly."

"Will you listen! N-neither did I, and… but… oh, I can't tell you! It's… it's so hard, I don't know what I should do, I…" I trailed off. I just wished Matthew was there, I wished more than ever that I could see into his mind, that I could work out what to say, what to do…

And then Chris made it worse. "So you love him now, then?"

I looked at him. He didn't look angry, just sad and confused and worried. "It's not like that. I… maybe… it's just… it's not what you think, Chris. And… I would explain it to you, of course I would, but I don't know if I can, and I don't know how to. It's just so hard and I can't-"

"Jess, is he making you do this? Is he forcing you into anything?" Chris said over the end of my rambling.

I looked him straight in the eye. He had to trust me on this one. "No. He isn't. And that _is_ a promise."

He nodded once, and although his gaze flicked to the floor, I could see that he believed me. "I don't really… I just don't understand what… what…" He sighed, and trailed off.

"Neither did I. I don't really know if I understand it all _now_, either." I said, and Chris smiled at our mutual confusion.

"I just don't want you hurt. You tell me if he hurts you, yeah?"

I looked up at him. "Course I will. But… he won't."

"Ah, you don't know that." Chris said, but he was smiling slightly so I didn't argue. He would be absolutely spot on if Matthew was human, anyway. I smiled back at my brother, but suddenly his eyes widened. "Hang on, is that where you were last night? With him?"

_Oh shit._ "Um… y-yeah…" I decided not to tell him about Dom's attack. But Chris was smirking, and it dawned on me just what he was thinking. "But not like… not…"

"Tom is going to be _royally_ pissed off when I tell him what you were doing whilst he was looking up and down the entire hotel for you…" He teased, starting to walk down the corridor towards the hold.

"Chris! We weren't having sex!" I followed him.

He turned around, walking backwards, and grinned. "Yeah, yeah…"

"We… we weren't! I-I…" I could see it was no use, though, as Chris had turned around again, so I trotted up beside him and gave him a shove.

"Aww, alright, I won't tell Tom." He stopped walking and gave me a genuine smile. "C'mere." He said, and pulled me into a hug.

We'd travelled down to the point in the corridor where it turned a corner, and the lights had been smashed in that area so it was quite dark. But I felt perfectly safe in my brother's arms, smiling into his shoulder. That is, until I felt something cold press against my neck as a familiar voice spoke: "Well, isn't this nice."

I froze, as did Chris. I couldn't see who was pushing a gun into my neck, but I had a pretty good idea from his voice. I heard Chris speak, his voice low. "You."

"Me." The voice replied. "Let go of her."

Chris hesitated, but I felt the gun travel up to my temple and he reluctantly took his arms from around me.

"Move away." The voice said, and my brother paced a couple of steps back. "Now," The voice continued, and I felt myself pressed back into a warm body as an arm snaked around my waist, pinning me there. The pressure of the gun was forcing me to tip my head to the left, but my eyes were fixed on Chris', and his were flicking between mine and the man's behind me.

"Did you do all this?" Chris said, indicating the damage to the ship.

"Shut the fuck up." The voice said calmly, and I had a strong urge to stamp on his foot. The cold metal pressing into my head kept me from doing so, however. "You. Go down to where the others are." The voice was speaking to my brother, but then he spoke directly to me. "And you, Jess… you're coming with me."

Chris was stuck in between staying where he was and bolting off down the corridor. He didn't seem able to decide which action to take, but when I saw the finger move on the trigger of the gun out of the corner of my eye, he began slowly to back off towards the hold. He stayed facing me, though, and opened his mouth to say my name.

"Je-"

"Don't say a word. Keep walking." The voice interrupted, and Chris closed his mouth. I tried to give him an 'it's going to be okay' look, but the gun was tilting my head the wrong way and I couldn't watch my brother go all the way down the corridor. I knew when he must've gone out of sight, though, for the gun lost contact with my head, and swung down out of sight. The arm around my waist was still pinning me to the man, though, and he chuckled and murmured "Fool," before suddenly swinging me around and slamming me against the wall, the gun regaining contact with me, just under my ribs.

"Hello, Jessica," He said, and I looked up into the wild grey eyes of Dominic Howard.


	43. Bliss: 43

"Fuck you." I replied, still looking him straight in the eye but trembling like hell and breathing erratically. Needless to say, I was terrified.

"You wish." Was his response, accompanied by a raised eyebrow and a small smirk. Even though his smile wasn't huge, I could tell that he was absolutely thrilled. He'd obviously planned all this, and now it was playing out _exactly_ as he wanted it to.

"Where's Matthew?" I asked, trying to shift my right leg a little. Dom had trapped it against the wall with his knee and it had started to go numb.

"Aww, isn't that sweet." He said, pushing his knee harder against me. I winced. "I'm not telling you where he is, _or_ what I'm planning on doing to him." I let out a little whimper at that, and his smile widened. "Any more questions?" I'd looked away when he'd mentioned Matthew, and now he leant in, his breath ghosting my cheek.

I knew he wasn't going to give me a straight answer to anything else I asked, so I shook my head, knowing there was no point in voicing any more of my questions.

"Good girl. Now, if you'll just stay very still…" Dom said softly, stepping away from me but keeping the gun pressed into my ribs. "Look at me?" He said, and I hesitantly brought my eyes up to meet his. He spoke one more time: "This might hurt just a little."

I knew that couldn't mean anything good, but before I had time to do any more than say "Wha…", he'd brought the gun swinging up and around to my head, and I could feel unbearable blinding pain and I could see Dom's smile falter just a little and I could feel myself falling- but I never remember hitting the ground…

**Chris**

I ran for my fucking life. That bastard had my sister and I needed to get down to the rest of the crew, to tell them that it wasn't safe, to warn them to get off the ship _right_ now. But I was too late. Of course I was. Me and Jess had spent ages dawdling along up there, and if it had given Howard enough time to sneak up on us it was obviously enough time for something bad to happen downstairs.

I reached the bottom step and thought I'd have to fight them off. Whoever the hell it was that was in league with Howard, I was ready to fucking kill them. I keyed in the code next to the door to the hold, and watched it slide open. But there was no one there. No one to fight, and no one to save, either. The entire crew either hadn't reached the hold, or had been taken somewhere else. My Kelly was with them, wherever they were, and little Alfie. I know I probably should've got out of there and started looking straight away, but that simple fact threw me. All this time I'd been worrying about Jess, thinking that my wife and son were safe, or at least not in as much danger as my sister. But now, who knew what had happened to them? There was nothing I could do. The ship was huge, and I didn't know this planet at all. They could be anywhere.

I leant back against the wall and let myself slowly slide to the floor in the empty room. The last time I'd seen Kelly she'd been terrified, running down the corridor with Tom. I should've gone with her, and dragged Jess along behind me if she hadn't been willing to walk. The last time I'd seen Alfie was in her arms. He hadn't even been crying; just lying there, looking around, probably happy to be back in the place where he'd been born. I thought back to the walk up to _Bliss_. Kelly had been annoyed because Alfie wouldn't stop crying and she'd had some kind of tense conversation with Jess, but she wouldn't tell me what they'd been talking about. I might never know, now.

My head was an absolute mess, as you can see from all that rambling up there. I'll be surprised if you can make any bloody sense of those paragraphs. But that was what was running through my head. I don't know exactly how long I was sat there, but it was long enough to make my arse go numb. I didn't move, mind. I was too worried, too lost in thought, I suppose. Which is also probably the reason why I didn't hear _him_ come in.

"Get up." Dom Howard said. He was pointing the gun at me, the same gun he'd used to threaten my sister.

I jumped a mile, but my thoughts immediately flew to Jess. She'd been with Howard, but she wasn't here with him now. "Where is she?" I demanded. I was standing up now, and my hatred for this man was strong enough to poison an entire planet.

"Who, your sister?" He said, speaking as if we were having a normal conversation. My hands were balled into fists at my sides.

"Yeah." I said, quietly, my anger clear in my voice.

He waited for a second before replying, his smile mocking me. "Who cares?" He said, cruelly, and that was it. I didn't care that he had a gun, I didn't care that he was probably going to kill me, because in my mind, _I_ was going to kill him first.

I ran straight at him, putting all the fear and anger and confusion I was feeling into my sprint. I was about a metre away from him when I heard the gun fire. It stopped me dead. It shouldn't have, but it did. I came to a complete halt just in front of him, convinced that he'd killed me but I couldn't feel it yet somehow. He wasn't looking at me, but down at the floor. I followed his gaze and saw what he was seeing; a small, round hole in the metal. He hadn't shot me. He'd shot the floor, right in front of my feet. I almost collapsed with relief.

"You want to hurt me, don't you?" He said. I looked up at him, breathing heavily, and he wasn't smiling any more. There was nothing in his face, no emotions, no nothing. I didn't know what to make of it, so I stayed frozen to the spot. "You also want to know where your family is. Am I right?" One of his eyebrows rose slightly.

I still didn't say anything, but neither did he. We didn't move for about twenty seconds, and the room was silent, until he did something absolutely crazy. He lifted the gun up to head height, not pointing at anything in particular, and lobbed it straight over my head, right over to the other side of the room. The noise it made in the echoey space made me flinch. I shook my head at him. He was obviously completely mad. Dangerous, yeah, but absolutely off his rocker.

"I'll allow you one punch, to keep you satisfied. And then you _will_ follow me. 'Cause you know that I'm the best lead you have to finding your family." He said.

"You're mad." I said. Being blunt has always been a particular skill of mine.

"No, no. I'm just very, very clever." He said, quite condescendingly, and the smile was back. I wanted to knock every one of those perfect teeth right out of his mouth. "So go on, then." He carried on. "Punch me. Hit me. Hurt me. I'm absolutely defenceless, and I'm sure you're much stronger than I am. Go on… Do it… Hit me."

Well, he did ask for it.

But as my fist smashed into his face, his smile never faltered. He didn't even seem to flinch. I'd hit him with absolutely every ounce of my strength (which, if I say so myself, is quite a lot), but he didn't even look it'd hurt! No blood, no broken nose, no scream of pain… And what's more, and this is the weird bit, he even started to laugh.

But then again, I probably would've done the same if I was in his position. 'Cause I'm telling you, that punch did a lot more damage to me than it did to him. I would've punched him again and again, down to the floor, but the pain in my fist stopped me from doing so. It felt like my entire hand was broken, and I could see that three of my knuckles had split open, bleeding onto the floor. I slowly stretched my fingers out, wincing horribly. Well, at least they weren't _actually_ broken. Just very, very bruised. I stared at Howard in disbelief. Was he about to tell me that he had a metal skull, or something?

"What the fuck?" I gasped, looking incredulously at him.

"Happy?" He said, his face lighting up with an even bigger smile.

"Wh-"

"Well, you wanted to punch me; I let you punch me… I thought you'd be happy now that you've done it." He continued, seemingly oblivious to my pain.

"You… y… wh…" I stammered, not able to get anything coherent out and still cradling my injured hand.

His smile faded away and he looked at me in disgust. "I'd hate to be a human. You're so _weak_."

"You… wha… I thought you _were_ huma-" My mind was being uncommonly slow, but it finally dawned on me what he meant. "Oh my _god!_ You... you're a fucking _alien_!"

He rolled his eyes, as if it was obvious. When it was clear that I didn't have anything more to say, he sighed and shook his head, and then turned around and walked out of the door.

My default reaction in a situation as _strange _as that would be to go up to my room, crack open a beer or two (or three) and just snooze the weirdness away. But after a couple of seconds I remembered his words: '_And then you _will_ follow me. 'Cause you know that I'm the best lead you have to finding your family.'_ I knew then that I couldn't wait to sort _my_ head out when Jess, Kelly and Alfie were in danger. I snapped myself out of my 'weirdness' daze and ran after Howard.


	44. Bliss: 44

**WARNING: SUM OF DIS CHAPTA IS XTREMLY SCRAY. VIOWER EXCRETION ADVISD.**

* * *

He was wearing gay little sunglasses, the ponce.

I'd followed Howard back up the route to the atrium and out of the front of the ship, and now he was leaning against the side of the open hatch, waiting for me.

"So?" I asked cautiously as I got closer. "Where are they?" I meant my family, the crew; _anyone_ would be good…

He turned to look at me. At least, I think he was looking at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the reflective lenses covering them, and it was freaking me out. "Oh, they've gone. But I'll tell you which way they went, if it'll interest you."

"What d'you mean, they've gon-"

"Just keep heading that way. You'll see them soon enough, if you walk quickly." He interrupted me, pointing lazily to the west. As soon as he saw me take note of the direction, he pushed himself upright and began to walk down the ramp, towards a hovering motorbike at the bottom. I hadn't seen that particular make of the bike before, but I'd always wanted one of those things and I just stared at it for a second, lingering in the doorway of the ship. Howard looked back at me before he reached the bike, and raised an eyebrow. My face reddened a little at being caught staring at the bike. I assumed I was supposed to move, and so did so, slowly making my way down the ramp. As soon as my feet were on the dirt and no longer touching the metal of the ship, the ramp slid up behind me and the hatch closed, shutting the ship down. I frowned. I didn't know if I'd ever set foot inside it again.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Howard suddenly said, bringing me out of my reverie. "I thought you might get lonely catching up with the rest of the crew by yourself, so I saved you a bit of company." He smirked, and walked over to a pile of cloth to my left that I hadn't noticed before. I squinted at it; in the bright blue sunlight of the late morning it didn't look quite right, and as I watched, it moved slightly when Howard's shadow fell across it.

"Get up, you worthless shit." Howard hissed at it, and I realised that I'd been a complete idiot. The shape was in fact human, and it did as Dom had told it to, but with difficulty. Only when the thing was completely stood up and walking slowly, painfully towards me did I realise who it was.

"Chris." Captain Bellamy mumbled, nodding vaguely in my direction. He looked like he'd been beaten up, badly.

"Now, you two have fun." Howard said, making his way back over to the bike. "See you soon…" He finished, waggling his fingers at us, and then he was off, the bike throwing up a cloud of dust that looked awfully similar to the powder that coated the floor of _Bliss._

"Tosser." I muttered, and half glanced at Bellamy for some kind of agreement or a similar insult to back me up, but none was given so I looked back towards the bike.

I watched Howard go until I couldn't see him any more, and then I was very aware that I was completely alone with a man I- well, a man I didn't really approve of. And worse, he knew how I felt about him. And even worse, he probably knew that I knew that he knew how I felt about him. Fuck, did that make sense? I sound like a prat. Anyway…

Bellamy seemed to be waiting for me to say something first, so I did.

"So, yeah…" I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him rub a hand over his bruised, bloody face. He was staring at the spot where Howard had disappeared, and he looked absolutely defeated, enough to make me feel just a little bit sorry for him. I realised that I wasn't taking this as seriously as I should've been.

"What happened to you?" I tried again at starting off a conversation. He did look pretty messed up, after all.

Bellamy left it a couple of seconds before answering, glancing up at _Bliss_ and then quickly looking away as if regretting reminding himself of the damage to his ship. "I've been outsmarted."

"Oh." I said, sounding like a absolute idiot.

"We need to get moving." He said quietly, as if I hadn't made a sound. He started walking in the direction Howard had pointed to without looking at me. I hastened to catch up.

It was literally about ten minutes before either of us spoke again. I didn't question whether he was going in the right direction; I was in no doubt that he knew a lot more about this whole situation than I did.

"I'm sorry that you don't like me very much, Chris. Nobody really seems to, but…" Bellamy said, leaving his sentence unfinished.

"It's not that I don't like you-" I began, but he made a little noise of disbelief and I started again. "I just… don't trust you. I mean, to be fair, you haven't been Captain for long, so that kind of makes sense…"

"We both know it has nothing to do with how long I've been in command." He interrupted me, and suddenly the whole awkwardness of the situation multiplied as I realised that he was telling the truth. I definitely didn't have the guts to address this new 'elephant in the room', as people used to call it. He didn't seem able to bring it up either. It had been hard enough for me to talk to Jess about him, how was I supposed to face talking to him about my own sister?

A couple more minutes went by in silence. We were both still walking at a considerable pace, set by Bellamy. I was getting just a little tired out by now. A few times, Bellamy looked like he was going to say something, but no words actually came out of his mouth until about five minutes had passed.

"Would it… would it change anything if I said that…" He began, but seemed to get stuck and left it there, his hand up by his mouth, his fingers tugging at his lips.

"Probably not." I replied, in a weak attempt to be funny. He appreciated my effort, apparently, and a small smile appeared on his face. It also seemed to spur him on to say more.

"Jess has said that… she's given you the idea that this isn't… that we aren't what you'd call… a conventional couple." His face told me that he wasn't happy with how he'd phrased it, but he looked up at me and said, "Yeah?" prompting me to reply.

"Um… I… I spose…"

"She said that it's not what you think. That… that she can't say all of it, that she can't explain it properly. That's what she said." He carried on, sounding a little frustrated with my vague answer.

"How do _you_ know that? Have you seen her since I talked to her? Where is she?" I didn't know how he could've known her exact words unless he'd spoken to her, and this gave me a kind of new hope that she might be nearby.

"Look. I…" Bellamy was finding it hard to finish a sentence. It reminded me of what Jess had been like when _she_ was trying to explain this to me. I was beginning to get a little freaked out by the both of them. But then he suddenly changed the subject, throwing me off my train of thought. "Did you work out what was different about Dom Howard? Do you… know what…?"

"I know he's an alien, yeah." I said, and that was the confirmation he was looking for.

"Okay, good. And… does that bother you?"

"What? What's this got to do with-"

"Chris, please, hear me out. It's got everything to do with this."

I frowned. "Well, yeah, it kind of does bother me that he's an alien, because it means we can't get rid of him with violence. Honestly, I tried punching him back there, and…" I showed him my injured hand and he nodded.

"That… that is true. He's strong. It's not quite what I meant, but…" He sighed, and rubbed a hand over his face again.

"I'm still not quite seeing how Dom being an alien has _everything_ to do with you and Jess." I said, impatience creeping into my voice.

"I haven't really made it clear enough. It's not _Dom_ being an alien. It's… aliens in general."

"Aliens in general don't bother me as long as they don't possess a gun and aren't psychopathic kidnapping freaks." I said, trying to make my point clear.

He smiled a little. "Okay."

I waited, but he didn't say anything else. _Well? Is that all you have to say? I'm still fucking confused here and you're not making any sense, none of this has any connection to- oh _shit_. _That was pretty much my train of thought up until the point where I realised what Bellamy was trying to say.

"You're shitting me." I said quietly.

"I'm not."

"You're one too?"

He stopped walking and looked at me like I'd deeply insulted him, and for a minute I was worried that I'd got _completely_ the wrong end of the stick.

* * *

**I hope all you viowers remembered to excrete. Especially you, Pwoper Lily.**


	45. Bliss: 45

"If you think I'm part of the same species as that… fucking-"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" I interrupted, worried that I'd crossed the line. "You're an… you and Dom Howard are both… aliens… but not… the same… a-alien…" I finished feebly.

"Thank you." He said, and began to walk again. I followed.

"So… blimey…" I was trying to sort my head out. "What… wh-what species are you, then?" I said carefully, not wanting to offend him again.

"I can't tell you." He looked a little guilty, as if he regretted his sudden bout of anger. "See… this is the whole thing, this is why Jess and I are… well, 'together'. It's because of what species I am. But I can't tell you exactly what it is, and neither can she, because… we're… we're under oath." He glanced around, looking over the flat wasteland we were now walking across. "I don't really know if I've already overstepped the mark, I could be as good as killed for this, but… but I want you to know, because I don't want Jess to have to choose between you and me." He glanced at me before looking down at the floor and muttering the next part. "Especially as she doesn't really _have_ a choice, anyway. But it's complicated." He waved his hands about in the air, his voice suddenly back to normal volume, and looked straight at me again. "And I need to be able to trust you, even if you don't trust me. You can tell this to Kelly, and… and Tom, but no one else. Jess and I could both be killed if the whole crew finds out that I'm not human. Can… can I trust you with that?"

"Y-yeah, yeah. I… yeah." I said, a little overwhelmed by all this new information.

"And… and I want you to know that…" He smiled, and rubbed the back of his neck. "That's what this whole alien thing was about. I didn't- I _don't_ want you to be freaked out just because I'm not human. Because trust me, I…" The smile faded from his face and he closed his eyes for a second. "This is going to sound awfully hypocritical of me, but I'll never… never let Jess come to any harm. I'll make sure she's never in danger." He stared straight ahead of him then sighed, and the hand was rubbing over his bruised face once again.

"Why's that hypocritical?" I'd never really understood what the bloody word meant, but I wasn't about to tell him that.

"Because she's in danger right now." He said, his voice quiet. I could tell that he was genuinely worried about my sister.

"She is? How d'you know? Do you know where she is?"

"Yeah."

"Wha- where is she? Do you know where Kelly is? And Alfie?" I was getting hopeful again.

"We're getting closer to them. But I doubt Jess will be with the rest of the crew." Bellamy sounded defeated once more, and I felt another surge of pity for him as I looked over his injuries.

"Why not?"

"Howard's trying to get at _me_. And he's using Jess to do it. That's the whole point of this. But that's… that's why I'm so worried, because I don't know what he needs the rest of the crew for! I mean, I'd do anything if he threatened Jess, I just don't know what he's going to use _them_ for, that's the thing… I was trying to make him leave you all behind, I mean, you know how to work the ship, you could've got out, but he wasn't having it…"

"I wouldn't have left without Jess." I said stubbornly, not being able to imagine flying off of the planet and knowing she was still there, in danger.

Bellamy smiled. "I think you probably would've. Sometimes you've got no choice when there's four hundred people with a different opinion to you, trust me. You would have had to leave her behind, whether you wanted to or not." He said, with the air of someone who knew what he was talking about.

I paused for a second before speaking again, worried that I was about to touch a nerve. "Who'd you leave behind?"

"Ah, it wasn't me. It was Paul." He said, and I decided to leave it at that. He didn't sound like he wanted to talk about it, and I never know what to say when people start getting emotional. I usually try and avoid them, to be honest.

We walked in silence for a few more minutes. I think by that point I had a kind of… respect for Bellamy. No, not quite _respect_, but I realised that he wasn't as messed up as I'd thought he was. And I didn't think he posed any kind of threat to Jess. But I don't think I fully trusted or respected him just yet. I'd just changed my mind about the kind of person he was.

Another five minutes of silence, and I began to appreciate where I was, and how tired I was getting. My feet were hurting from walking on the same flat, hard surface, and my eyes were watering slightly from the dust that seemed to linger in the air. I literally couldn't see a thing on the horizon. If Bellamy hadn't been there, solidly trekking along beside me, I would've completely lost all sense of direction and probably ended up back at _Bliss_. It was quite scary, being out here. I'd never been anywhere like it; I'd only ever visited built up places or rolling hills with the odd tree on planets I'd been to before. Even the Shimaroo desert- largest in the universe- had contours; this was just nothing. A complete wasteland.

I'd thought the heat was getting to me, or the fatigue or something, because I eventually began to see shapes on the horizon. They were little black dots that gradually increased and decreased in size, and they seemed to be kind of… wavy. The air around them was doing it too, going all wavy and weird. I glanced at Bellamy and he didn't seem phased. He looked tired, yeah, but it didn't look like it was bothering him. Well, I wasn't about to show any weakness in front of him, despite the mutual understanding we'd come to earlier. I kept on walking at the same pace; blinking ridiculously any time I thought my eyes had started to deceive me.

But a couple of minutes later, Bellamy spoke. "Can you see that?"

"What?" I looked at him and he was squinting at the horizon.

"Kind of… shapes, on the horizon. Going up and down." He replied, and I looked out again.

I could still see the shapes, and I told him so. "Yeah, but to me it looks like they're getting bigger and smaller."

"Oh. Well… I don't think that really matters too much. What I _was_ thinking is that if we can both see them, they must be there, and I think that there's a chance that… they might be… the crew. I don't want to get your hopes up-"

Suddenly- to me, anyway- the shapes looked _exactly_ like silhouettes of people. "Yeah, yeah it does look kind of like the crew! And… and they're going up and down or bigger and smaller or whatever because they're moving! Walking forwards, like we are!"

"I think it's probably the light playing tricks on our eyes, like a mirage…" Bellamy argued, but I don't care what he said, I stuck to my theory and thoroughly got my hopes up.

"Maybe we could catch up with them, if we walk quickly enough! Or… d'you think they might be able to hear us if we shout from here?" I didn't wait for an answer, and shouted at the top of my lungs, "HEY!"

"_Chris!_" Bellamy said sharply, stopping me from shouting again. "They won't be able to hear us from that far away, and I doubt they're moving, or we wouldn't be catching up so quickly. You can see for yourself that the shapes are getting bigger as we move closer. I think they've probably stopped for a rest and so are very tired, and they probably don't want you running and shouting at them." He spoke as if telling me off, and I realised he was probably right as I studied the shapes and saw that they had got a little bigger. My excitement waned slightly at the tone of his voice, though, and suddenly the prospect of walking as far as I could see didn't seem very inviting, even if it did mean catching up with the people I loved.

Bellamy and I didn't speak for the rest of the walk, probably because we were both so tired. As the definite forms of people came into view, I could see why they'd stopped here. I had no idea how far I'd walked from _Bliss_, but I doubted I could've gone past this point without a rest. We got nearer, but nobody acknowledged us. The first people we walked past looked utterly miserable, but I didn't attempt to talk to them. I was too busy looking for Kelly.

I don't know when Bellamy stopped walking by me, but after about two minutes of stepping over outstretched legs and scanning the faces of the groups of people sitting down, I noticed that he wasn't with me any more. I hardly cared though, and I didn't look to see where he'd gone.

In what felt like the very centre of the gathering, I finally spotted Tom. I went over as quickly as I could and placed a hand on his shoulder, muttering, "Hey, man, seen Kelly?"

He looked around at me and his eyes widened. He glanced out at the edge of the crowd before looking at me again. "We thought- we thought you… s-she's over here, man." He got up and left the group he'd been sitting with, stumbling slightly as he lead me over to a figure sat on its own. "I think she'll probably want to…" Tom trailed off and walked back to where he'd been before, sitting down and staring at the ground. I frowned, and walked cautiously around to Kelly's front.

"Kells…" I crouched down and tried to catch her eye. She knew I was there, but she didn't look at me. I saw that she'd been crying and reached out to her face, wiping my thumb over her wet cheek. She looked up at me for a second, and then down to her empty arms. "Kelly," I said, my voice gentle but my mind screaming. "Where's Alfie?"


	46. Bliss: 46

A fresh tear rolled down her cheek and she sighed shakily. I tried pulling her towards me, into my arms, but it was like she was frozen to the spot, sitting cross-legged on the hard ground.

"Chris, you'll hate me." She said, barely more than a whisper.

"I'd never-"

"I thought it was the best thing to do."

"Kelly, what-"

"I left him on the ship, Chrissy. I... I knew something was wrong, the first people had already been taken back outside and… and so I ran up to an empty cabin and l-left him on the bed." She paused to wipe her eyes. "I left my suitcase… I-I opened it, there's food in there somewhere, and milk, I'm sure there is…"

"Kelly." I interrupted. "He's a _baby!_ How's he supposed to o-open food packets and find the milk? You… you _left_ him there… there's people on that ship, Kelly! Bad people! They… you saw, they… Howard couldn't have done all that damage by himself, he… Alfie…" I didn't really know what I was saying; I was just jabbering on and trying to sort out my mind as I did so. "What if we _die_, what's going to happen to him then? If- if we- if he was _here_, then… then he'd be _here_, with _us_, and we… I…"

"Chris, baby, do you really think I haven't said this all to myself?" She'd come out of her frozen state and was trying to convince me, a hand on my shoulder. "Even if it wasn't the right thing to do, I've done it, okay? I've punished myself enough for it on the way here, ask Tom."

I just couldn't stop thinking that when I'd watched Alfie being whisked away in Kelly's panicked arms back on _Bliss_, it might have been the last time I'd ever see him. "You could've… you could've _told_ me, Kelly." I calmed down a bit and sat down next to her. She put her arm around my waist and I put mine around her shoulders.

"I couldn't, honey. I didn't think of it until I got around the corner and saw the soldiers pushing everyone down towards the airlocks." Kelly had lowered her voice and was glancing up at the edges of the crowd. I followed her gaze and saw what I hadn't noticed before, that about fifty or so soldiers were standing guard around the crew, dressed in black and cradling guns. I had no doubt that they were Laths, as they all had yellow-blonde hair just like that Howard scum. "I… I was panicking, I didn't know if I'd see you or Jess again, I didn't know where they were taking us, and I… I wanted at least one part of the family to survive." Kelly finished, sniffing slightly. I hugged her tighter, muttering something about it being alright now we were together. We sat like that for a while, trying to get to grips with the fact that we were in danger and we didn't know what was happening to our child.

"Y'know, I thought Jess would be here. I saw you walking towards us with her, but she hasn't come over. Is she with Tom? I don't know if I'll be able to face telling her about Alfie, she'll go off her head…" Kelly murmured a little later.

"Um… I was… I was walking up with the Captain, not Jess. I don't know where she is… Howard got her and… he had a gun and I couldn't… there was nothing…" I replied, my head in my hands. I should've done more for Jess, instead of backing off like a coward. I could've saved her, I know I could've…

"It was Bellamy? We all… we all thought he was dead! I thought you were dead too, to be honest…" Kelly replied, tracing patterns on my back. "But what do you mean, Howard got her? Where is she?"

"He… oh god, Kelly, we were going to come down to find you, but he was there. He had a gun; I couldn't have done anything…" I said, realising that it was true. As much as I blamed myself, there was nothing I could have done.

"A gun? Did… is she hurt? Did you hear a shot? Why didn't he take you as well as her?" Kelly was frowning more and more with each question she asked.

"I don't know, Kells. I didn't hear him shoot, no, but I… he must've taken her to where we're all going. I hope so, anyway. But… I think he needs her for something, which is why he didn't take me. I… Bellamy said something, whilst we were walking up, something about Howard trying to get at _him_, and using Jess to do it."

"So this is all about Bellamy? I _knew_ Jess should never have got involved with that man! If she'd have stayed away from him we wouldn't all be in this mess…" Kelly exclaimed, and I thoroughly agreed with her. Even though a small voice in the back of my mind was repeating the apparent fact that Jess had 'no choice' about being with Bellamy, I muttered along in agreement to my wife, blaming the whole thing on the Captain.

It was late afternoon when we started walking again. The soldiers, who had been stood facing in towards the crew, suddenly turned to all face the same way, and began to march. Us lot in the crew had no choice but to follow on within the ring they made. You might be thinking that the odds were pretty good for us, with four hundred against fifty, but nobody dared to face up against the soldiers when they started walking again, or for the rest of the journey. I could see why- there were a lot of families and strong friendships within the crew (although any children had been dispatched on the training planet. However, this was a detour which was too far away to make when Alfie had been born, hence him still being with us. Well, not _with_ us at the moment, but... part of the crew. If that makes sense.) and no one would dare risk their loved ones being killed or injured by those guns.

In fact, as I started to walk again, my tired feet plodding along, I could see that some people were already looking a little roughed up. I asked Kelly about it and she said that these were the people who had resisted being taken from _Bliss_. She also described how a seemingly gentle shove from the soldiers had badly bruised one of the men's faces. I grunted in response to this, flexing my own injured hand.

I had no idea where we were going or how long for. For what seemed like the first two hours (it could easily have been longer or shorter), the landscape was much the same as it had been when Bellamy and I had been catching up with the crew. There was nothing around, no landmarks or anything, and for all I knew we could've been going back to the hotel or something. But as the sun began to set in front of us, there was suddenly something visible on the horizon. It looked exactly as the crew had done from a distance to start with; black dots wobbling up and down in a kind of illusion. But with the confirmation from those around me as well as the fact that we were drawing closer to the shapes, I knew that they were definitely there, and not just a trick of the light. I originally thought that we were somehow catching up with another stationary crowd of people, but then I realised that the shapes stretched along the entire horizon ahead of us, and looked more like a solid dark line.

We trekked along, and I was constantly watching this line, so I didn't notice as it gradually got bigger and became more distinguishable. Like when you see someone every day- you don't notice them getting older, but if you went away for a year then came back, you'd see the difference straight away. But Kelly had been looking down for most of the walk, shielding her eyes from the bright blue glare of the sun, and as we got ever closer she finally glanced up again and spoke.

"Chris, I… I think it's the forest." She whispered, pointing vaguely towards the horizon. Nobody had dared speak much on the journey, partly because talking used up too much energy but mostly because of the soldiers, so she didn't speak at normal volume.

"What forest?" I muttered back.

"The one Bellamy was on about when we first got here- the one he warned us to stay away from…" She glanced up worriedly at me but quickly looked down again, the sun too bright for her to keep her eyes on me. But I remembered now, the Captain had said something about a government warning about the place, telling us to keep away. Well, I doubted any of us would've wanted to walk this far just to see a forest, but Kelly's words gave me an awful feeling about our destination. I wanted to know more about where we were going, and since Bellamy seemed to know so much about this place, I decided to ask him.

"Kells, I need to find Bellamy. He can tell me about this forest." I muttered to Kelly, glancing around for the Captain.

"He said he didn't know anything about it though, when he warned us. He said he didn't _want_ to know." She replied, but I shook my head.

"I don't quite believe that, somehow." I said, and with that I started to move about the crowd, still scanning for the Captain. My conversation with him a couple of hours ago had led me to believe that there was a lot that he hadn't told any of us. And I didn't care whether it was for my own safety or not, right then, I wanted the truth.


	47. Bliss: 47

I finally spotted him, towards the front of the crowd, walking on his own. He looked worn out, and his face was still badly cut and bruised, poor sod. As I approached him, I realised that I didn't really want to leave Kelly back there on her own, and I thought it might be easier for the Captain to tell us all whatever he knew rather than me having to remember whatever he told me in order to inform Kelly. So when I caught up with him, I simply grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards me, towards where Kelly had been walking. She'd been joined by Tom and David, our roommate from the hotel, and I released Bellamy once he was walking in the centre of our little group.

"What do you know about this forest?" I muttered in his direction, casting a glance at the soldier nearest to us. He was looking straight back at me. My little trip up to find the Captain had attracted his attention, and now he was watching me intently.

I looked back to the Captain, slightly unnerved by the soldier's stare. Bellamy was, unbelievingly, smiling. "If I tell you what I know about this forest, we'll all be shot." He wasn't trying to keep his voice down, and he sounded a little deranged. But his eyes flickered up in my direction, and his smile wavered slightly, and I saw that he was hurting. He'd failed, he knew it, and along with Jess' disappearance, it was killing him.

I didn't quite know what to say to his response, so I threw a sneaky glance up at the soldier again. He was still staring straight at me, and the gun was now pointed in my direction. I decided to keep quiet.

"Chris, trust me on this." Bellamy suddenly whispered, dragging my gaze back to his face. "Once I know what Howard wants you all for, I'll do everything I can to get you out. Jess and I… we might be a different matter, but I'll try to keep _you_ all safe. The only reason I haven't done anything yet is because I don't _know_," He stressed the word a little too much through his clenched teeth, and a few people in front of us turned their heads. "I don't know what Howard's doing." Bellamy finished, his whisper almost fading away to nothing in a few places.

I was a little flummoxed by the Captain's entire demeanour, so I simply said "'Kay," and stayed quiet after that. None of the others had said a word.

We got ever closer to the forest, until eventually I could see it in a lot more detail than before. It was kind of refreshing to have something new to look at rather than the same, flat sandy landscape we'd previously been completely surrounded by.

The trees that we were coming to were absolutely ridiculous. I'd thought the buildings near the hotel had been tall, but these plants seemed to be around fifty metres high, and the leaves were such a deep red colour that it looked like they were made of rusty metal. What's more, they were all absolutely identical. The trunks were all the same width, the leaves started at the same distance up on every tree, and the points at the top were all exactly in line, creating a zig-zag in the bright blue sky. Thoughts of cloning ran through my head- I wouldn't put it past this planet to have the technology. It also hit me why we were heading for this place. Howard and his army would have to have some sort of base, somewhere, and where better to hide a huge building in a forest full of identical trees, with no landmarks to help prisoners find the way out? I sighed. We were doomed.

It was a while before we reached the edge of the forest, but when we got there the soldiers didn't pause, just directed us straight into it. I noticed that they thinned the group out a lot, though, so now we resembled a really long, four-person-wide snake that was surrounded by armed Laths, slithering along the forest floor. As soon as Kelly, Tom, Bellamy and I stepped under the first umbrella of leaves, it was like we'd entered a cave, the trees were so tall. The way ahead was pitch black and nobody had a torch or screen to light the way. I assumed that the soldiers must know where they were going, but how, I had no idea. There wasn't even a path. People were beginning to mumble at the change of scenery, and as we were marched even deeper into the place, I searched for Kelly's hand and held it, tight.

The darkness was becoming more intense, if that was possible. I couldn't see Tom clearly even though he was only one person away from me, on the other side of Kelly. And as for the nearest soldier, the one that'd been staring at me earlier, well, he could've been anywhere. The light from the edge of the forest behind us was hardly there any more, and the air had started to get really cold. I felt Kelly put her head on my shoulder as we kept walking, and I put an arm around her waist, not saying anything because I didn't know what to say or how to say it. I glanced at the Captain, who was walking on my other side. He looked like he was craning his neck, peering over the heads of the crowd in front, but it was so dark and I doubted he could see anything.

The walk through the forest seemed to go on for twice as long as the walk from _Bliss_ through the wasteland, but again I had no idea how long we took. However, the end of the journey was clearly stated, as the noise level from the people up ahead suddenly increased. I thought that maybe they could see something I couldn't, but I eventually found out what it was as I strode straight into the person in front of me, provoking large grunts from both of us. We'd finally stopped.

Kelly, Tom and I were sighing with relief at the prospect of a nice sit down, but out of the corner of my eye I could see the Captain getting more and more agitated.

"What's up?" I said, not bothering to lower my voice, as the shouts and grunts and the odd "ow!" were loud enough to drown out my question.

He rubbed a hand over his mouth and looked at me, his eyes shining in what little light we had still available to us. "He's singled me out." He finally said. "They're going to hate me…" He glanced at the dark sea of heads up in front of us and I understood that 'they' was the crew.

"Why? What d'you mean?" I shot back at him, but he didn't look like he was going to reply. He seemed to be putting something off, holding back. Around us I could hear the crew starting to wonder out loud why we'd stopped, and I grasped the fact that the people at the front actually _couldn't_ see any kind of building or door. There was nothing around us but the endless rows of trees.

Then: "They've gone! Where're the soldiers?"

I don't know who'd shouted, but the immediate reaction was one of panic. Yes, we were no longer under threat from those guns, but we had lost our only guide and now we were stranded in this horrible place, deep within the forest of identical trees.

I looked over at Kelly and Tom (or where I thought Tom was- it was too dark to see him properly), but neither of them said anything so I looked to my other side, and Bellamy's eyes met mine.

"I know the way." He said, simply.

"Wh…" I replied, not quite able to process the fact. If the Captain knew the way to Howard's hideout, it could easily mean that he was in league with him. If I was about to find out that all this time, Bellamy had been in on the whole kidnapping plan, I'd kill him to death. "How the… how… _how_? H-have you been here before?" I asked, desperate that there was some kind of innocent explanation for this.

"Just… get them to go in the right direction, Chris…" He said, and the lack of a straight answer confirmed my suspicions.

"You bastard! Why the fuck should I do what you tell me to? You're… this is just low, man…" I was far too angry and tried to calm myself down, but the panicked conversations going on around me didn't help, and the fact that I couldn't see a thing made it worse. I could hear footsteps and I guessed that people had begun to go their own way and try their luck getting out of here. I had half a mind to do the same.

After looking around at nothing in particular, panicking slightly, I turned back to Bellamy with the intention to punch him straight in the face just for something to do. But his expression stopped me. He looked completely crushed at my reaction. I couldn't bring myself to punch him with that look on his face. "Chris…" He whispered. "If… if I don't tell them where to go, they'll be shot. You think those soldiers just disappeared?"

I was stuck once he'd said that. I didn't want to trust him but I didn't want anyone from the crew to be killed. I didn't know what to say, but when the first shot sounded I was thrown into speech. "J-just take us away. Just back… Go back… to _Bliss_…" I spluttered, not really knowing what I was saying.

"I don't know the way back, Chris. I… I only know the way forwards. Please, just…" He winced as someone screamed, and more shots were fired. "Just get them to follow… get them safe…"

I shook my head at him, but I knew I couldn't leave the crew in this state. "Which way?" I asked the Captain quickly.

"Just get them to follow me. They'll get lost if you say 'turn left' or something…" He replied, and he seemed to accept that I was going to do as he said for he elbowed forwards, away from me and into the dark.

I started shouting the instruction to follow Bellamy. I had to make myself heard before anyone was seriously hurt. Even though I'd heard a few shots I doubted they'd hit anyone; they'd sounded more like warnings. Amazingly, the message spread and any stragglers were quickly drawn back towards the group. The people in front of me started stumbling forwards and I blindly followed, keeping a tight hold of Kelly's hand as I explained in a whisper to her and Tom what had just happened.


	48. Bliss: 48

**Jess**

I don't know how long I was lying there for, but it was a long time. The floor of the hall was cold, hard stone, and the best I could do for a pillow was my hand. I hadn't heard anything for ages, not since Dom had shut and locked the door and walked back down the corridor, the sound of his footsteps echoing back to me for a while in the silent building. After that, once I'd curled up next to the door, peering out at the rest of the huge room, there'd been nothing. Not even the sound of the wind through the trees above. I knew that I was a long way underground, because I'd woken up in the middle of the forest, just before Dom had cleared the leaves off of the floor and opened a hatch. As he was carrying me down the stairs below I'd tried to count just how many there were, but it had all looked the same and Dom had been moving too quickly for me to count numbers that were three digits long. I'd got to about a hundred and fifty and given up.

I'd considered just going back to sleep in Dom's arms, as he hadn't said anything to me even though he knew I was awake. I certainly felt like I needed more rest, but I realised that it was probably a good idea to keep my eyes open in case I needed to find my way back out of there. At the bottom of the stairs he took a left, then a right, then another right, then a middle fork, then the second left corridor, then… I found that my memory couldn't deal with the number of turnings Dom was taking in this labyrinth, but I kept my eyes open all the same, hoping that if I _did_ have to find my way out at some point, my mind would be reminded by the way each corridor looked. There were also certain landmarks; a torch here, a scratch there. All useful, and all catalogued somewhere in my memory.

And then I'd been dumped in this room without a word. It was huge, and either my eyesight was blurry or there was some kind of mist at the far end. I stayed close to the door; I didn't have enough energy to explore and I didn't really want to. I started to wonder about everyone back on _Bliss_, and what was happening to them. It hit me that the room I was in was easily big enough for four hundred people, and I felt mixed emotions and the prospect of seeing them again. Chris, Kelly, Tom, David, Lucy, Harry, Martha, Zane, Michael… all the people I'd had to work with or was friends with on _Bliss_ flashed through my mind, and I couldn't decide whether I was going to be selfish and wish for them to be brought here just for my comfort, or whether I wanted them to be safe back on _Bliss_, out of Dom's reach.

It took a lot of effort for me not to think about Matthew. I focused on all sorts of things, from the way my cabin looked back on _Bliss_ to the lyrics of songs that I loved, and I just about kept my mind off of him. I did it because I didn't want him to suffer any more than he might be already. If I wasn't thinking about him, he wouldn't have to think about me, and so he could concentrate on whatever was happening to him, and trying to find a way out of it. I don't really know if that makes much sense, but it did to me at the time.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that when I heard the first footsteps I thought it was my mind conjuring up the memory of Dom walking away after locking the door. But they got louder, and I told myself that I _was_ hearing them for real. I thought it would probably be Dom, so I sat up, leaning against the wall. I didn't want to show him how weak I was feeling. I then realised that there was definitely more than one lot of footsteps coming my way, and I wondered what Dom was up to, bringing other people with him. When I realised just how many pairs of footsteps there were, I couldn't stop my hopes from rising for any longer and I was set on the fact that whoever was going to come through that door would be from _Bliss_.

I shifted around so I was facing the door, sliding my back around the corner of the room so I was leaning on the side wall. The footsteps were so close now, and I imagined that the first person of the crowd was just about to reach the door that I was so intently staring at. I heard the click of the locking system and knew that the door was about to open. There was no handle, and it opened inwards, so even though it was now unlocked there was no way I could have opened it from this side. I'd have needed a magnet or something, assuming the metal it was made of was magnetic. So all I could do was wait.

I don't know why it took so long for the door to finally open, but the first person I saw stepping into the room was someone I didn't recognise. They were wearing black and holding a gun, and from their hair I figured that they were a Lath. The next person to enter looked exactly the same, as did the third. But when two of them stood either side of the door and the third made a beckoning gesture with his gun I realised that they were just a guard for whoever these prisoners were going to be. They didn't look at me even though I was staring intently at them, but because I was paying them so much attention I didn't realise that more people had started to enter the room.

The next thing I knew, I was being half-smothered by fabric. Someone had wrapped their arms around me and pushed me back against the wall, holding me tight. "Jess…" They murmured, breathing onto my cheek, and I recognised exactly who it was.

"Matthew?" I said as he kissed my forehead, pulling back afterwards to look me in the eye. I was stupidly glad that he was here, but as soon as I saw his face my eyes widened. He looked like he had on the night of Dom's attack. I had no doubt who'd caused the bruises because of this fact, but as I stroked Matthew's cheek my eyes met his again and I noticed something more. He looked close to tears, tired, _defeated._ It was awful. "Wh…" I whispered, not able to find the right question to ask. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against mine.

"They've turned against me." He said, his voice weak. "They think I'm on his side."

I moved a hand around to the back of his head and curled my fingers in his hair, trying to bring him some kind of comfort even though I didn't really understand his words. He kissed my cheek and buried his face in my neck, and I suddenly saw who the rest of the footsteps had belonged to.

Familiar faces were filtering into the room, but like I'd never seen them before. The crew of _Bliss_ all wore the same expression: resignation. They'd given up. I glanced down the steady moving line of people and saw everyone that I'd been thinking about earlier. Their names flashed once more through my mind and it was horrible to see them like this.

Right at the back of the room, in the opposite corner from where Matthew and I were, sat Chris and Kelly. I caught Chris' eye and his name escaped my lips, weak at first but louder the second time. I expected him to run over to me as Matthew had done, to tell me that it was going to be okay, but he stayed where he was. I longed to go over and see him but Matthew was still leaning on me. I knew that he could see in my mind what I wanted to do, so I placed my lips by his ear and asked, "Let me go and see him."

He looked up at me, his blue eyes still holding the same emotions as before. "Don't leave me here… they'll kill me…"

"Don't be silly, no one's going to kill you," I replied, stroking his cheek but glancing back up at Chris. He was still looking at me, his eyes flicking from me to Matthew. I was confused; we'd talked about Matthew and I on _Bliss_ before Dom had arrived with the gun, and he'd seemed to accept the fact. So why was he giving us such dirty looks? "Matthew, please, I think he's angry with me…" I pleaded. "You can come over too if you don't want to be left on your own…"

He shook his head like the suggestion was absolutely absurd. I sighed in frustration; I didn't know what to do. I decided that if I couldn't go to Chris, he was going to come to me. I looked back at him and mouthed 'come here!', beckoning with my hand. He looked down at Matthew, then back to me, and shook his head. I looked to Kelly for help, but she also shook her head, glancing at Matthew and mouthing 'sorry'.

"Matt…" I said, exasperated, looking back down at him. "Matt, what's going on?"

He didn't complain about the shortening of his name, but he shifted himself around a little, taking his weight off of me. Our arms were still around each other, but he looked more composed than when he'd first come into the room, like he'd recovered slightly. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the last people were entering the room, and the Laths with guns were making their way out.

"I told you." Matthew said, bringing my attention back on to him. "I told you that they all hate me."

"What, the crew?" I said, frowning. "They don't _all_ hate you, Matthew… it's just that some of them didn't like your brother, like me, so-"

"No, you don't understand." He sighed. "When the soldiers were bringing us through the forest, at one point they all just stopped and disappeared. Of course everyone was panicking because they thought that they were lost, because the soldiers had been the only thing guiding them. But… the place where we stopped… I recognised it, because it was where you'd woken up." He said, and I realised then just how important it had been that I'd kept my eyes open when Dom had been carrying me down here. I wasn't the only one who had access to the memories in my mind. "So I knew the way from then on." Matthew continued. "But of course, when I told the crew… well, of course they don't know that I can read your mind, so they immediately assumed that I was in league with Dom. How else would I know the way into his secret hideout?" He said, rather bitterly.

"So they think you're on Dom's side…" I said, realising how unfair it was. "Oh, Matthew…"

He smiled a little, but I could see it was hurting him. "Go on." He said. "I was being stupid. Go and see Chris, I'll be okay." He took his arms from around me, and leant back against the wall.

"You sure?" I said, sitting up.

"Course. He's your brother. Go and… go and sort things out."

"'Kay. I… I won't be long." I said quietly, my hand lingering on his chest for a moment before I stood up.


	49. Bliss: 49

Chris had seen that I was coming over, but he didn't stand up or anything. I guessed that I was in big trouble.

"Hey, bro…" I murmured, and, not being able to think of anything else to say, I fell silent.

He didn't reply for a while, just looked at me. I was worried that he was really angry, but when he finally spoke he held his arms out and smiled, albeit awkwardly. "Come here."

I literally threw myself at him. I'd been so scared, and having Chris here was such a comfort, especially as he'd decided not to have a rant at me about Matthew. Not straight away. He held me tightly for a few seconds, but I eventually heard him mutter "And _stay _here."

I looked up at him. "Chris, I can't leave him there. He's terrified." I glanced back over my shoulder at Matthew, who was leaning back against the wall, staring at the floor. "Let him come over here. Just so we're all together…"

"No. Jess, I…" Chris sighed, composing himself. "I talked to him, on the way over here. He seemed alright, you know? But you didn't… he was leading us down here. The soldiers were following behind, but they weren't giving us any direction. He knew _exactly_ where you were. And… and I don't know how that's possible, unless he's in on all this."

I closed my eyes in frustration. If only I could tell Chris that Matthew could see into my mind! I didn't know what I could say, and as much as I wanted to be here with my brother and my friends, I found myself wishing to be back over the other side of the room with Matthew again.

Well, what is it that you lot in the past used to say? 'Be careful what you wish for'. That's the one.

There was a loud scraping noise as the door was pushed open and closed in quick succession. Whoever had entered the room had obviously not wanted anyone already in here to escape.

"Evening, everyone." A familiar voice said. I didn't even have to look around to know who it was. I could hear footsteps as Dom walked further into the room, and when I could see his shadow out of the corner of my eye I looked up at him. The flawless smile was there, as were the sunglasses and the smirk. He was carrying some pod shaped things which were matched in pairs, connected by a length of wire that he'd slung over his shoulder to leave both his hands free.

"So, I'm here just to install a few precautions. We don't want anyone escaping, now do we?" His eyebrows raised and a hint of evil leaked in to the innocent smile. "But first I need to… _organise_ you." He paused; power emanating from every inch of his body as he surveyed the room. The tip of his tongue was pressed against the point of his top right canine, and as he thought it wandered across to the left, somehow drawing my eyes and not letting me look away.

He finally looked like he'd come to some kind of conclusion, for his lips pressed closed and out slightly in a small pout, and his eyes locked with mine. He held out a hand, and beckoned slightly with one finger. "Would you mind?" He said, very quietly, but I heard, for the room was in absolute silence.

"Yes, I _would_ mind." I replied, smiling sweetly at him. I couldn't see any kind of weapon about his person, so I assumed I was safe as long as I didn't push it _too_ far.

Dom's lips pressed out a little more, increasing the size of his pout. He looked at me like I was a misbehaving schoolchild and he was the teacher. Then, from nowhere, he produced a red and black gun- a gun that I'd seen before. He walked over to where Matthew was sitting and pressed it very purposely to his temple. "Do you still mind now?" His voice was careless but his finger was tensed over the trigger button of the Lamarénea and I knew he was serious. I could see that Matthew was holding very still, not daring to move. I had to do what Dom said- I couldn't risk the degradation and embarrassment Matthew would face if he was 'downgraded'.

I began to get up but Chris was holding on to my hand. "He's not going to shoot him, Jess. They're working together! It's a bluff-"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure…" Dom interrupted, but I didn't need convincing. I was standing up now, and loosening Chris' hand from my own.

"Chris, you don't understand. You _won't _understand." I added, acknowledging how Chris was refusing to trust me on anything I said about Matthew. "I'm sorry, I…" No more words came out. There was nothing else I could say. I turned and began to walk across the room to Matthew, _very_ conscious that the whole crew was watching me.

"Good girl." Dom said as I drew nearer, taking the gun away from Matthew's head and storing it who knows where. I ignored him, and dropped to my knees when I reached my Captain, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face in his chest. He held me tightly, his chin resting on top of my head, facing away from the crew with his leg bent up as if to block them out. I could almost feel their intense gaze; four hundred-odd stares merging into one, beaming right across the room and landing on Matthew and me.

Dom was walking away from us now, and I felt Matthew turn his head to watch him. I peeked out above his shoulder and I could see the blonde sticking one of the little pod things to the wall, right down at the bottom so the wire coming out of the lower end didn't have far to go before it touched the ground. He took the pod's partner from his shoulder and began walking over to the other side of the room, trailing the wire along the floor as he did so.

"What's he doing?" I asked Matthew as Dom shooed about twenty crew members out of his way. I noticed that now, Matthew and I were completely separated from everyone else by the thin piece of metal on the floor.

"It's a shield." Matthew replied as Dom secured the second pod to the opposite side of the room and pressed a button, causing a buzzing green light to shine directly up from the wire and hit the ceiling.

"But why's he cut us off from everyone else?" I stared at the ghostly green rectangle separating us from the crew.

"I don't know." Matthew breathed, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "But I'm glad he has."

"What? Why? This means I can't see Chris, I can't-" I said, then bolted forwards towards the shield, determined to break my way through somehow. But I was stuck- Matthew had caught hold of me and he was too strong for me to reach the green light.

"Jess! If you touch that shield you'll be incinerated!" He cried at a fantastic speed, but if I didn't understand the words I understood his actions. He pulled me back towards him and wrapped his arms even more tightly around me. "_Please_ don't go doing anything stupid. I don't want to lose you before I have to."

"Don't say things like that! You're not going to lose me!" I exclaimed, but he wouldn't meet my eye. "Matthew Bellamy, don't you _dare_ give up!"

"What's the _point_, Jess? Even if we do somehow get out of here, there's nothing left for me. The crew aren't going to want me as their Captain any more, so-"

"Don't be ridiculous." I interrupted, although what I'd seen on the crew's faces as they'd first entered the room told me that it was probably true. "_When_ you get us out of here, they'll all realise their mistake and respect you even more."

"I don't see why I _should_ get us out of here, though." Matthew replied as Dom walked past us and started installing another set of shield pods between us and the door. "Now I've lost the crew's respect, getting back to _Bliss_ is no longer important. You're the only thing that matters, and since you're here with me now… well, I know you're safe, and I can look after you."

"What do you mean, _Bliss_ isn't important? It…"

"My priorities are very different to yours, Jess."

"That doesn't matter! Don't you want to get out of here?"

"Not if it means putting you in any more danger-"

"But if Dom kills me, well, you can't get into any more danger than that-"

"But he _won't_ kill you-"

"How do you-"

"Because-"

"When you're _quite_ finished." Dom had leant down and spoken directly in Matthew's ear, making us both jump a mile. I was immediately worried that the crew had heard our whole exchange, but they all seemed to be preoccupied with their own panicked conversations. Once we were silent, Dom sighed, shook his head, and stood upright again. He got the crew quiet and said, "Okay team, I'll leave you to get some rest after that awfully long walk. But I'll be back in the morning, and after that you won't get much chance to sleep. I'd use this opportunity if I were you." He sneered at everybody before turning around and walking slowly towards the door. "Oh, and by the way… I wouldn't touch those shields if you don't want a nasty shock." He finished, and with a small chuckle, he walked straight through the aforementioned shield and was gone.


	50. Bliss: 50

"Wha… how can he…" I gasped, turning to Matthew. "You said those shields incinerate-"

"Oh Jess, use your brain." Matthew interrupted, quite irritably. I guessed he was still pissed off after our little argument.

I was quite offended, but I gave it some thought. "What, so the shields only affect humans or something?"

"Exactly." Matthew replied, looking quite pleased that I'd got there so quickly.

"See? I'm not as stupid as you think I-"

"Shh!" Matthew was suddenly moving towards the locked door, scooting along the floor. I followed, careful not to get too close to the shield in front of me. "Listen," Matthew hissed.

I strained to hear something other than the worried mumblings of the crew, and eventually I picked up on Dom's voice, coming from outside the room.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes. You want them terrified, don't you? You won't do that with empty threats and words, Dom. You need to _show_ them." A female voice was replying, a voice that held even more authority and confidence than Dom's. "If you don't stamp out their hope now, they'll still defy us when we come to use them!"

"But I don't want to _kill_ anyone…" Dom said, and I looked at Matthew in disbelief. His face didn't match mine, however. He was still listening intently, his brow furrowed as he gave Dom's words a good deal of thought.

"What did you say?" The female voice sounded murderous.

"Emma, I d-didn't mean…" Dom began jabbering some kind of apology, and I noticed Matthew nod once when the name of the female voice was revealed. Emma… I'd heard it somewhere before, but I couldn't remember where… "Of _course_ I want to kill the Larhs, that's the whole point. But… killing humans in cold blood…" Dom finished his apology with another feeble hint of argument.

"It has to be done, Dom. You need to get used to doing this kind of thing. It's tried and tested, and it works." Emma replied.

"But why do I have to do it _now_? Why not wait until we can actually _use_ the body, and do it a different way?"

"We need those humans, Dom. We need them to be scared of us. Petrified of us. This is the way to do it."

"But-"

"Stop arguing, and do as I say! Or you'll get us all in trouble…"

"I don't like this…" Dom said quietly, but it sounded as if he'd given in to the woman's pestering. And sure enough, he entered the room once more. I tried to catch a glimpse of this 'Emma', but the open door was blocking my view, and before I could get a chance to move Dom had closed it.

As the blonde walked through the first shield again, I noticed that Matthew was watching him with a look of almost pity on his face. This was making no sense- I thought Dom was meant to be the bad guy? Or was Matthew suddenly coming down with a case of Stockholm syndrome?

As he passed us, Dom glanced at Matthew, grimacing slightly with a hint of an apology flitting across his face. I was reminded of their brief conversation in my hotel room only one night ago, and the kind of 'flirty comradeship' they'd shown towards each other, as if they'd met before. Even though I didn't want to, I was beginning to doubt Matthew ever so slightly. Was Chris right about him being in league with Dom?

Dom reached the second shield and again walked straight through it. The crew was entirely silent once again; before Dom had come in there'd been a low buzz of conversation, but not any more. There were a few funny looks going around, though, many of the crew members had picked up on the fact that Dom didn't seem as comfortable or confident as he had the last time he'd been in the room.

"You. Get up." He pointed to a young, brunet man sat near the front of the crowd. I knew him faintly as being a designer on _Bliss_- décor, furniture and so on. He did as Dom had told him to without hesitation, looking absolutely terrified. "I warned you about these shields." Dom continued, addressing everybody. "This is what happens if you touch them."

He motioned for the man to press against the sheet of light with his hand, demonstrating the action himself first without coming to any harm. The brunet looked a little confused, but hesitantly reached his hand out towards the light.

"I wouldn't watch this if I were you. And block your ears…" Matthew murmured into my hair, but I found myself transfixed by the scene, much like the rest of the crew.

The moment the man's skin came into contact with the light, there was a humongous flash and he was gone. There was nothing left to see, not even a swirl of dust. It was like he'd been teleported. The only thing that remained was an awful, echoing scream of utmost pain that ripped through the air, as loud as if the man was still standing there. It went on and on, but slowly dwindled until finally it faded out altogether. The faces of shock and fear on the other side of the room must've matched mine. I could see why Emma, whoever she was, had told Dom to provoke terror by killing in this way. It was horrible.

"Those shields must've cloaked the body…" Matthew begin to mutter as Dom walked wordlessly back through the green light. "Normally you'd see it being burnt-"

"Matthew!" I interrupted, not wanting to know the details. His tone of voice had been very matter-of-fact, as if the whole episode had been some kind of demonstration for him to criticise.

"Sorry." He said, quietly, realising his mistake.

Dom didn't look at us as he passed by, but I could see that he didn't like what he'd just done. I felt weirdly sorry for him. There were people beginning to cry as the door slammed shut behind him and the click of the lock echoed through the room. I didn't want to see or hear any of them; I was too confused and upset to have other people's angst entering my head. I huffed and concentrated on Matthew instead.

"Your poor face…" I lightly stroked his bruised cheek. "Do you want to do the thing to make it better?"

"What, the energy 'thing'?" He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"I don't want to steal _all_ your energy…" He dragged out the word 'all', making me smile.

"You're welcome to it. I want you to be okay." I placed a light kiss on a particularly prominent tendon in his neck.

"Mmm…" He sighed, using a finger to tilt my chin up to his before gently kissing me.

It had been so long since Matthew had kissed me properly. In fact, this was only the second time he'd done it! But regardless of that, it was utter perfection. And over far too soon.

"All better." He said, pulling back and smiling at me. And indeed, his face was completely healed.

"Do you have to do it by kissing me?" I asked, slightly breathless.

"Is that… a complaint?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly.

"No! No, no, I just meant…"

"I know, I know." He chuckled. "I don't have to, no. I could do it without even looking at you if I wanted. But I prefer it this way." He pressed another tender kiss to my lips to accentuate his meaning.

"Me too." I agreed, closing my eyes. He pulled me closer to him and we sat like that for a couple of minutes. It occurred to me that I should be scared and upset like everybody else in the room, considering the danger I was in, but although I explored the emotions I never really felt them as intensely as I maybe should have done. Just the fact that Matthew was there was making it all better, somehow.

He spoke after a while, rousing me from a light daze I'd fallen into. The crew had quietened a little, so he kept his voice low. "Did you pick up on the fact that… no, you didn't."

"What?" I guessed that he'd found the answer to his question in my mind, but I wanted to know what it would've been.

"The woman who was speaking to Dom. Emma. She's his sister." He replied, and suddenly I remembered where I'd heard her name before- in Matthew's explanation about what had happened to Paul's human. '_It was Dom Howard's older sister, Emma, who actually took Dom'_.

"So she was the one who kidnapped _Paul's_ human, and now _her_ younger brother has kidnapped _his_ younger brother- which is _you_-'s human. Me." I said, trying to sum it up. "Runs in the family, eh?"

"Exactly." Matthew said, but the word held a little more gravitas than I would have expected from such a reply, so I imagined that there was something more to the whole business that Matthew wasn't telling me.

"And?" I prompted.

He sighed. "It literally does 'run in the family'. Do you remember ages ago, when Dom first attacked you? Just after you woke up, somebody said something about a 'Dominic Howard' and I was immediately more wary?"

I thought back, and after a lot of searching I found the memory he was talking about. _'Wait. Someone said Howard.' _I hadn't thought much of it at the time, but looking back it did seem strange that such a common name as Howard could've got Matthew worried.

"I also spent a lot of time telling you to stay away from Dom, because after that I knew who he was. I'd recognised the fact that it was a Lath attack as soon as I saw you in the canteen, but I assumed that it was just a lone saboteur that had sneaked onto the crew, looking for an easy meal. The thing about the Howards is that they're a family organisation, and quite infamous among Laths and Larhs alike. That's how I narrowed it down."

"Infamous for what?" I asked, quite surprised that Matthew had kept all of this quiet.

He paused for a second, smiling. "For wiping out old, important, significant Larh families."

"Ah."

"And trust me, when you're within reach of the Howards, it's not good to be a Bellamy."

"You're a large family, then?" I asked, beginning to piece it all together.

"You… you could say that." Matthew replied, with the air of someone trying not to boast. I sensed that once again, he was hiding something.

"Matthew…?"

He brought his hand up and began tugging on his bottom lip. He looked me straight in the eye, but broke contact as he spoke. "We're royalty." He managed to last for about three seconds before a large smirk appeared on his lips.

"You're…"

"I'm a prince, yes." His eyes met mine once again and I felt as if I was going to faint.


	51. Bliss: 51

"Y… wh… I…" I mumbled incoherent nonsense for a little while after that, processing what Matthew had just said as he held me to him.

"Try and get some sleep if you can." He murmured as my mumbles died down. "It'll do you good. I'll be here when you wake up, promise."

I looked up at him and he was smiling his beautiful smile, looking straight at me with his beautiful eyes. "I don't want Dom to kill you." I said quietly, tugging gently on the piece of his shirt that was screwed up tightly in my fist.

He closed his eyes and his forehead met mine. "Don't worry about that now. It's gonna be okay." He kissed the top of my head and pulled me close to him again, and by that time I really was quite tired and unable to resist the warmth and comfort of his chest. Sleep didn't take long to come.

When I next opened my eyes the room looked exactly the same as it had when I'd closed them. No change in light, smell, mood… there was a low level of mumbling going on along with the shuffling noises of people moving about on the other side of the shield, but that was about it. I shifted around a little and my movement alerted Matthew, who looked down at me and said, "Good morning."

"How d'you know?" I said, rubbing one eye lazily and wondering how he knew that night had ended. There was no clock anywhere, and as I've already said there were no changes in the room to signify that any measure of time had passed.

Matthew didn't reply in words, just nodded in the direction of the corner of the room. I looked towards the spot and saw that Dom was sat there, surveying the crew and chomping noisily on what appeared to be a sandwich.

"He said he'd be back in the morning, and here he is." Matthew said; distaste running clearly through his voice. "Enjoying a hearty breakfast."

Dom looked straight at us then, and I imagined from the look on his face that he'd heard Matthew's sardonic comment.

"I'll have you know that this is a top notch sandwich." Dom was getting to his feet, and I had the feeling that he'd been waiting for me to wake up before taking any kind of action. The crew's noise level diminished at the sound of his voice.

Matthew didn't get a chance to reply to Dom's remark, as someone from the crew called out. "What the hell's in it, anyway? It stinks!"

A ripple of noise and movement ran through the room as everybody turned to look at Tom Kirk. I admit that my mouth was hanging open slightly. I don't know how he'd dared to speak like that to Dom when we were all at his mercy, but he'd done it. A few of the people sat around him were wearing the same defiant expression as he, however, and I almost expected Dom to kill them all on the spot for being so insolent.

But he didn't. He seemed utterly calm and unaffected, and simply replied, "Brie."

The word echoed around the room as several tens of people muttered it under their breath. I could see that Tom looked a little confused, but one of the men next to him muttered "Isn't that a cheese?"

There were a few murmurs at that, and then a man I know as Zane Lowe (he works in the documenting part of _Bliss_, writing the ship's journal and so on) raised his voice to say, "That's a gay cheese."

Dom's eyebrows went so high up his forehead at that moment that I'm surprised they didn't take off and rocket through the ceiling of the room. He seemed to falter for a second, and his voice was noticeably higher in pitch when he finally replied. "It's a quality French cheese!"

Matthew snorted, and he wasn't the only one. The whole room was hiding smiles behind fists and swallowing back giggles.

Dom went bright red and had a go at a comeback. "Yeah, and it's about the only decent thing that came out of your ridiculous planet!" Nobody was listening to him though, and he gave up trying to regain his dignity and instead came storming over to Matthew and I.

"Never mind. This is your first mass kidnap, isn't it? I'm sure you'll get better with practice." Matthew said to him as he neared, and there was a hint of the banter-ish confidence in his voice that I'd heard the last time the two men had talked to each other. "But then again it must be hard to be ruthless and cool when you're eating… brie… sandwiches…" Matthew didn't quite manage to finish his sentence as he elapsed into giggles. I couldn't help but join in.

"Hey, come on, it's bad enough having _them_ laughing at me…" Dom whined, and Matthew's giggles slowly subsided. I was getting more and more suspicious about their relationship. I highly doubted that they hadn't met some time before.

Matthew was still grinning, but he wasn't giggling any more and was looking expectantly at Dom, waiting for him to speak again.

Dom sighed. "Get up, then. It's time to die." He sounded like he'd said the last four words before, as there was no literal meaning in them.

"What, again?" Matthew replied, doing as he was told. I didn't dare interrupt their conversation as I was interested as to where it would lead. I got to my feet in silence. "You've dropped the 'cool' persona now, then?" Matthew asked.

Dom wrinkled his nose up. "What's the point? I'm no good at it; I can't keep it up for very long. And anyway, _they're_ not scared of me any more, and that's the whole point of it." He glanced at the crew, who were now making much less of an effort to hide their giggles and were talking freely amongst themselves.

"_I'm_ not scared of you, either." Matthew added.

"Yes I _know_ that, thank you." Dom replied, sounding truly fed up. Everything about him had changed. His voice was much freer in pitch and more expressive, he was taking a lot less care in his posture and his face had become more relaxed. Hell, he was still gorgeous, but I had the feeling that Matthew was right, that the 'cool, dangerous' Dom from before had just been a persona.

He motioned for us to follow him, and it was only then that I noticed that the shield by the door had been disabled. There was now only one in the room, the one separating us from the crew. Dom unlocked the door and led us through before securing it firmly behind him.

"I guessed you wouldn't want me to kill you in front of your crew." Dom said quietly, once again talking to Matthew. I felt like I wasn't even there, they were ignoring me so profusely.

"How very thoughtful. So you're actually going to do it this time, then?" Matthew inquired, his tone of voice unusually casual for such a serious topic.

"Yeah." Dom turned around to start walking down the corridor, but paused. "Or they kick me out."

"Seriously?" Matthew said, his voice suddenly loosing its light-hearted tone.

"Mm." Dom turned to face him. "I've let you get away too many times, _apparently_. It's… it's because I left without even _trying_ at the hotel a couple of nights ago. If I'd had a go at you _then_, you might've had a chance to leave the planet before they sent me after you again. But… y'know, I can't get away with it his time. I'm on home turf, and that means no mistakes. I'm sorry." He and Matthew stared at each other for a second. Then Dom looked at me. "Sorry." He repeated.

Matthew looked awfully concerned, but I didn't quite get it. This Dom, the one I was seeing now, was so different to the one from before. I couldn't get my head around it. "What?" I said, simply.

Dom sighed. "I don't want to kill you. I- I don't want to kill _anyone_. I've had to do it in the past because my family's _made_ me, but I always put it off until the last minute, which they weren't too happy about. But the 'target' always copped it in the end, whether it was me that did it or not. Basically… what they do here is make you _prove_ yourself by setting you a really important target. Emma's- that's my sister- hers was Paul Bellamy, and she killed his human, which killed _him_, so she passed the test. They… they sent me after Matt a couple-"

"Mat_thew_."

"Mat_thew_," Dom glared at his interrupter, and Matthew smirked right on back. "They sent me after _Matthew _a couple of years ago, and, I mean, he's… he's a nice bloke, I don't see why he should die just… just because our races hate each other. So I've been putting it off, y'know. But now I've got him _here_, on my home planet, with _you_, especially, it… y'know, it should be easy to kill him. And because of that, and the fact that I've had so many chances already, my family have decided that if I don't manage it _this_ time, I'll be exiled. And… I can't…" He looked at Matthew, apology still written on his face. "I don't _want_ to be exiled…"

Matthew nodded as Dom finished. "I'm going to have to fight you, in that case. I won't go quietly, and neither will Jess."

"Y-yeah." I was quick to agree, realising the sudden danger of the situation.

"I have beaten you up quite a lot in the past week, haven't I?" Dom said, smiling slightly.

Matthew smirked. "Oh, I'll pay you back for that, don't worry." He replied, but then the smiles disappeared, and both men suddenly looked a lot more nervous. "If it comes to it, though, m-make it quick." Matthew glanced at me. "For both of us." The corridor was suddenly stone cold and deadly silent. I couldn't see anything other than a fight to the death in my immediate future, and I was terrified.

"I don't want to do this." Dom muttered, holding the moment off and increasing the tension even further.

"Is there some way you could organise us an escape or someth-" Matthew suggested, but Dom interrupted.

"No, I've thought about it, and I couldn't make it look accidental. This place is too well designed."

My heart was thumping so strongly I could almost hear an echo of its beat from the walls of the stone corridor.

Dom was staring at Matthew and Matthew was staring at Dom. My eyes were fixed on Dom's face, ready in case he made a move. Ready to do what, I don't know, but ready all the same. Neither man showed any sign of moving but I could see them thinking about it, wondering how to defeat their opponent, working out weak spots… I could see now that Dom's previous 'attempts' to kill Matthew had in fact led to a kind of friendship between the two, strange as it may seem between such opposing species. I couldn't imagine how they now felt; it must be like if I was suddenly forced to slaughter Tom or something.

The seconds ticked by and still, nobody moved. The only sound was our breathing. Everything else was utterly silent, which is probably what made me jump so hard when something finally happened.


	52. Bliss: 52

A knife was pushed against my throat and a small, lithe body collided into my back as Emma Howard snarled at her brother. "You. You disgrace. You _failure_."

I saw Matthew edge towards me, trying to take advantage of Emma's distracted anger, but she was too quick for him. Within a second she'd produced a Lamarénea and was pointing it straight at Matthew's heart. Both he and I were frozen to the spot. However, even though Emma was threatening the two of us, I could tell that most of her attention was still focused on Dom.

"You disgust me. You worthless, pathetic little _worm_."

Dom looked utterly horrified at the situation and the insults being thrown at him. He attempted to say Emma's name, but all that came out was a stammer.

His sister's hand flicked and in a flash, the knife that had been pressed against my throat was on the floor, sliding towards Dom's feet. Emma's free hand was now curled around my neck, making it hard for me to breathe, let alone make a sound in protest. I didn't dare move. The woman seemed mad, and I had no doubt that she'd strangle me in a second if I so much as blinked.

"Do it. Do it now. Stab the bitch. Before anyone finds us." Emma said, her words rushed and her breathing quick.

"Emma, n-no, I… I can't do it like this!" Dom exclaimed, stepping back from the knife.

"What's the difference?" Emma sounded almost hysterical by now. "You're going to have to kill all of them, sooner or later!" She jerked her head back towards the room in which the crew were still trapped.

"Hey, I never agreed to the farming thing-" Dom replied, but Matthew suddenly cut in.

"_Farming?_ That's what you've got the humans here for- to _farm_ them?" He looked utterly disgusted.

"Look, Bellamy, our planet's food supplies are running low. You came along in your spaceship, bringing 400 young humans with you! What do you expect us to do?" Emma snarled, her knuckles whitening around the Lamarénea.

Matthew winced. "Well… feed on them if you must, but there really is no reason to farm them. It's cruel and unnecessary, it must be against the law-"

"Of course it's against the law, but since when have we ever followed the rules? That's what the Howards are about, Bellamy, don't tell me you didn't know that." Emma cut him off. "And anyway, we're wasting time. Dom, Dad could come down at any moment and find you hesitating. Just kill her, for god's sake!"

Dom glanced down at the knife and back up at his sister again. "But I-"

"Dominic, if you don't do this, I will be _disgraced_for the rest of my life! Do you have any idea what people will think of me if my own _brother_ is _exiled_?"

Dom looked utterly incredulous. "Is that _all_ you care about? Your _honour?_ Your _status?_ _You_ won't even be the one getting exiled! There are more things in life than what other people think of you, Emma."

"Yeah? Like _what?_"

"Like…" Dom looked around for inspiration, trying to keep his side of the argument as strong as possible. "Like… nice people, like him, and… her…" He nodded at Matthew, then me, looking a little unsure at how Emma was going to take his answer. I felt her hand tighten around my neck as soon as he said the words.

"Oh." She was fuming, but her voice was quiet. Quiet and deadly. "So that's how it is? Well, then. I suppose now you've _made__friends__with__your__fucking__targets-_" She began to raise her voice, but controlled herself. "That… that changes things. You've bent the rules so many times; it won't matter too much if I… if I tweak them, slightly." I could tell that she was thinking something through, but it couldn't be good, whatever it was. "There aren't any witnesses; I could just… say it was you…"

Suddenly I understood. She was planning to murder Matthew and me herself and let Dom claim responsibility, therefore keeping her family's honour intact. I wasn't so worried about keeping still any more.

Unfortunately, everybody else had cottoned on at the same time, and all of a sudden there was absolute mayhem. Emma had let go of me and was scrabbling around on the floor for the knife, I'd stumbled sideways and knocked the Lamarénea out of her hand, shoving into Matthew and crashing us both into the wall as Dom desperately tried to keep Emma away from the knife. Matthew yelled at me to get back into the room with the crew and seal the door whilst he went to help Dom, but as I started to run, I could hear footsteps following me and a cry, "No!" from behind. I got into the room, but I was unable to close the door as Emma came flying in, brandishing the knife, followed swiftly by Dom and Matthew.

The crew had, predictably, gone completely silent, but I wasn't paying any attention to them. I was concentrating too hard on staying away from that damned knife. The whole thing had become a messy brawl for possession of the weapon, and in everyone's haste it eventually dropped to the floor whilst Matthew, Dom and Emma continued to fight above it.

Well, now the main danger was gone, I wasn't going to run away any more.

I dived into the fray, punching and kicking anything and anyone I could reach, not caring who I was hitting because I probably wouldn't have done much damage to their alien skin anyway. I had no idea who was who; the flashes of blonde hair could have been Dom _or_ Emma, and for some reason I couldn't see Matthew anywhere; the knife was still rattling around on the floor like a rugby ball in a particularly ferocious scrum, the gun was nowhere to be seen, and I was screaming and yelling and fighting and crying and hitting and biting and…

A flash of brightest white illuminated the room and suddenly I saw everything. The washed-out tableau was only lit up for a second or two but the image has always been imprinted into my mind, as such pivotal points in one's life will.

I was half kneeling, half crouching in the middle of the room, my hands stretched out ready to punch anything that got in my way. Emma was stood above me, holding the knife like a dagger in her fist, ready to stab me in the back. Matthew was stood to one side, his hair all messed up, his right arm pointing towards Emma with his forefinger pushed firmly into the trigger button of the Lamarénea. And finally, Dom was stood behind Emma, his left hand outstretched ready to knock the knife out of her fingers, his right arm clutched to his chest where the beam of light from the Lamarénea had gone straight under Emma's elbow and into his torso.

Emma was the first to react. She looked around at her brother, saw the shock on his face and the smoke unfurling from between the fingers of his right hand, and decided that she wanted no further part in all of this. She dropped the knife, which narrowly missed my shoulder, and bolted out of the room, valuing her honour and status firmly above the well-being of her brother. Well, good luck to her.

Emma's departure triggered movement in the rest of us, and within the next couple of seconds Dom and the gun were both on the floor, and Matthew and I were kneeling beside the former.

"Shit…" Matthew whispered, gazing at Dom's shaking body with a look of utmost guilt on his face. "I meant to hit Emma…"

I didn't say anything back, simply because I had nothing to say.

Matthew dragged a hand over his face and took a couple of deep breaths. I'd thought previously that the 'downgrading' that a Lamarénea did would merely be a little humiliating for whoever was shot. I'd never imagined it as being a painful thing, but looking at Dom now I could see that somehow, the process was absolutely excruciating.

"We need to get out of here, Jess. Before Emma raises the alarm." Matthew interrupted my thoughts and I realised he was right. We weren't safe yet.

"Yeah, but how?" I asked him.

He didn't answer, merely got up and walked straight over to one of the pods that was producing the deadly green shield in front of the crew. As I watched him fiddle around with the controls, I noticed that his fingers passed through the light several times without him being killed in the same way as that poor man from before. I faintly remembered saying something to Matthew earlier- about the shields only working on humans- that would explain this, but my mind was distracted as the crew began to mumble and chatter nervously, having guessed that we were all going to try for an escape.

Matthew broke the shield down after a few seconds and there was a moment of silence and stillness, the lack of the buzzing shield emphasising the hush. Then, there was an absolute stampede as all of the crew rushed towards the door at once, desperate to get out. I could see Matthew shouting at everyone to be quiet and not alert any guards that might be nearby, but nobody was paying any attention to him and he was soon blocked from my line of sight as the people flooded out of the room.

I was craning my neck to search for him when something caught hold of my elbow and dragged me along with the rest of the crowd. I looked up and saw who it was.

"You're staying with me, now. I don't care what you want to do; I'm not losing sight of you until we're back on that bloody ship." Chris said, his words forceful but his tone of voice considerate and calm. I went with the flow. I couldn't think properly anyway, and I couldn't stop moving with so many people pushing me from behind. I ended up in a kind of daze as we half ran, half stumbled out into the corridor, thinking over what had just happened and wondering how on Earth I'd got myself into this mess. The thing is, though, I couldn't do anything about it. I'd never believed in fate or anything like that, but I couldn't fathom what else had brought Matthew and me together. If I'd had known about this whole Larh thing, I would've expected to be one of the ones that was born at the wrong time or was never found, or something messed up like that. The perfection of mine and Matthew's situation was bizarre, alright. And dangerous, as I'd just found out. I had no idea what was waiting for me in the future, and to be honest I was a little scared. But as I stumbled along with the rest of the crew down that dark, icy corridor, I realised that I had no choice. What was going to happen would happen, and hell, I'd take it as it came.

_**~The End~**_


	53. Bliss: Epilogue

_**~Epilogue~**_

**Matthew**

I couldn't leave him. I just couldn't.

"Come on."

"C-c-ca-can't d-d-d-d-"

"Get up!"

"It h-h-h-hu-hurts…"

"Dom!"

I ended up half dragging him out of that place, trying not to bump his head when going up the stairs. I was too weak from our fight to carry him but I couldn't leave him. I couldn't.

He was babbling the whole way up, out of his mind and obviously in immense pain. I'd seen victims of the Lamarénea before, but seeing it happen to Dom wasn't nice. Especially knowing I'd been the one to bring this on him. He didn't deserve it.

I got him out of the forest and found that the crew were already a fair way in front of us. Thankfully, they weren't heading in the wrong direction, so I didn't see any need to hurry and catch up with them. I focused my attention on Dom instead.

"Can you walk? I can't carry you all the way."

"Shit…"

"Dom, please. Try to walk. I can support you but I can't carry you." I tried stopping for a minute to allow his feet to find the floor, and although he was a little shaky and still quite delirious, he seemed to remember how to walk.

After a couple of minutes he started to ask questions.

"What's g-going to… what am I going to do?"

I sighed. "Well, you can't stay on this planet, that's for sure."

"I don't h-have anywhere else to go!" He whined, starting to get a little panicky.

I couldn't deal with that, I wanted this walk back to be as easy as possible. So I made an extremely rash decision in an attempt to calm him down. Something I maybe shouldn't have done. "If the crew accept you, you can stay on the ship, under my protection."

He stopped shaking, an act that made me suspicious as to whether the tremors had actually been genuine in the first place. "Really?"

"_If_the crew accept you." I repeated. I didn't look him directly in the eye when I spoke because I was already regretting the offer. Thankfully, my voice had apparently sounded genuine.

"Blimey… thanks…" He blew out hard, puffing his cheeks up. He seemed better.

"Are you alright now?" I asked, wanting an overview of his wellbeing so I could assess whether he'd need any proper medical help once we were back at the ship.

"I'm… well, it's horrible. It just aches, all over." His face held a look of pure revulsion. "And I feel so _weak!_ It's like… it's like the tiniest bit of wind could blow me over, or something." He glanced at me. "We're not evenly matched any more. You could pay me back for all those times I've beaten you up with one punch- it would do as much damage."

"I could." I agreed. I was satisfied with his summary, it seemed like nothing particularly bad had happened in the transition. "But I'm not going to."

"Pfft. You're too nice."

I ignored him. "How's your head?" I knew that all the memories and thoughts of however long he'd been alive had been crammed harshly into a much simpler, smaller mind at the moment I'd fired that gun, and such a process couldn't have happened without causing him a fair amount of pain.

"Weird."

"Weird?"

"Yeah. It doesn't really hurt any more, but it's… slow, and I can't… I'm really having to… _try_, to think about anything. God. I don't know how they live with such simple brains." He gestured towards the crew with a nod of his head and I hummed in agreement. I could see into Jess' mind and read all of it within about ten seconds. Every memory, every thought, every emotion. If _she_ could read minds, mine would take weeks to read in comparison.

And so of course that train of thought lead me to want to know what she was thinking _right_ now. I closed my eyes for a split second and then I was there, in amongst my crew, walking slowly next to Chris and Kelly with Tom not far away. Inside Jess' mind.

I could hear Chris speaking: "It'll change, though." I knew I'd come in halfway through a conversation and I quickly scanned through Jess' thoughts to find that her brother was wondering whether life on _Bliss_ would go back to normal after this escapade. I heard Tom reply: "Yeah, I reckon everyone'll want a new Captain, to start." He snorted to accompany this statement, but I almost didn't register it because of the huge wave of emotion that had ripped through Jess' mind at his comment. She didn't say anything, but I could feel her annoyance. I think I must have smirked slightly at her loyalty.

But something was tugging at the edges of my consciousness, a repeated sound, getting louder and louder and threatening to pull me away from Jess. I tried to hold on for as long as I could, but eventually I had to tune in to the sound and come back to my body.

"_Matthew._Matthew! For god's sake, what's wrong with you?"

"Ugh." I remarked as I blinked back into my own mind. I'd never been _that_ distracted whilst in Jess' mind before.

"What…?" Dom said, standing about ten metres in front of me. I guessed I'd simply stopped walking, engrossed in another's thoughts.

"Sorry." I took a deep breath and shook my head a little. "I'm coming." I began to walk once again, catching up with Dom.

It was a while before _Bliss_ was visible on the horizon, and another while before we caught up with the crew, who had stopped, waiting outside the ship. They hadn't needed to; the hatch wasn't locked, merely closed. I hadn't entered the locking code the last time I'd left, because Dom had left me in a bad way and Chris had wanted to catch up with his family as quickly as possible. They all knew how to press an 'open' button, but the fact that they'd waited for me gave me a kind of hope- regardless of what I'd heard Tom say through Jess' mind- that they still held some kind of respect for me.

There were a lot of surprised and shocked faces when they saw who I was with, but regardless of whether Dom was going to become part of the crew or not, I wasn't leaving him here, so there was no need to ask for the crew's acceptance just yet.

I walked quickly up to the front of my beautiful ship and paused for a second, remembering how it was ruined inside and trying to think of where I should go to get it all fixed. I doubted Dom's soldiers would have got to the control room, however, as it was so soundly protected, so I wasn't worried about whether we'd get off the planet or not.

I opened the hatch and let the ramp unfold, standing back as the first people began to board. I caught Dom's eye and motioned for him to join me.

"Go up to the top of the ship and find an empty room. If it doesn't have a number on the door it means that the room doesn't belong to anybody, so you should be alright. I'll come and find you later, once we've got away from here." It was strange giving orders again, but I had to get back into the role of Captain. Dom nodded in response and joined the stream of people boarding the ship.

I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. I was utterly exhausted. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and covered them with the same hand, my thumb and forefinger resting on my temples. From the noise level nearby I could tell that nearly everybody was on board, and all I could think of was my bed and how I simply wouldn't be able to keep my eyes open for much longer.

"Oy." A soft voice interrupted my thoughts. "You coming?"

I opened my eyes and she was there. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Chris and Kelly were lingering on the ramp, their eyes fixed in our direction, but as soon as I looked at them properly they were rushing to get onboard, talking loudly about something I couldn't quite decipher. I smiled.

"I hope Alfie's alright." I remarked as I looked from them to Jess, who was smiling up at me.

"He'll be fine. They had quite an in-depth conversation about him on the way back here, and Kelly decided that she _did_in fact leave a full bottle of milk and an open packet of food with him."

"That's good."

"Yeah." A pause. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I assured her, looking up at _Bliss_ and having to squint slightly in the harsh blue daylight.

She followed my line of sight. "I'm glad to be home." She said, and our eyes met, and I loved her more absolutely than I had ever done before.

I smiled. "Shall we, then?"

She smiled. "Yeah."

Our fingers laced together and I held her hand tightly as we climbed the ramp.


End file.
